At Wit's End
by Cybu
Summary: If opposites attract, then it can be said that those with like minds may be repulsed of one another. Cross-posting from Ao3 and Tumblr! Eventual M rating, but I'll tone it a bit down for this site.
1. Prologue: The Beginning of A Long Battle

"Now, who wants to clear a campsite?"

A knight named Frederick asked, and eyed Robin with such disdain that she can feel her skin prickling from irritation. It's not like she _asked_ to not know a shred of information about herself, other than her name…and Chrom's.

Speaking of Chrom, immediately, Robin's eyes drew to the blue haired man that's taken her along for the ride. She was not sure what's to come, but somehow, she found her trusting this man. He grinned at her easily and she felt as though she was gravitating towards him and his warm smile. He'd been kind to her from the start, although that wasn't too long ago. She'd like to say that she could be fine on her own, but in such a state, she may not have been. Penniless, with only a tome and a blade to her name, she may have been in quite the mess.

Just how did she end up in such a state? Ah, but if she knew her problem would be solved. She took a step towards the man, but the rather annoying knight tutted at her action.

Frederick hummed in disapproval and pulled her rather roughly by her shoulder away from the leader. "I'll keep an eye on you. You're not to go off anywhere alone with anyone but I." He scowled at her like she was filth on his shoe, but even though his attitude rankled her, she had to keep her cool. After all, these people were her saviors.

"Frederick…must you be so wary of our new friend?" Chrom sighed and rubbed at his temple. It was clear that this man loved them very much, but it was already apparent that said affection could be overbearing. Such a stern face, but such a strange way of being protective. Or maybe he was just making sure that his charges would come to no harm, but that didn't seem _so_ likely. Whatever it is, she'd sure not to be the one on the receiving end of his affections, platonic or otherwise. She had to hold back a snort at that thought. It would be enough just for him to _tolerate_ her.

"Though she may be a _friend_ to you already, I must remain wary. Things don't add up, and I certainly am not willing to take risks. You understand this, yes?" he directed the last part at her in clipped tones. Robin's hands were balling into fists. If only she could take one swing at the guy! Yes, she gets that it's strange to take a complete stranger along on their travels, and she can't fathom why on earth it happened this way!

But why is this man so dead-set on insisting that she's out to murder them in their sleep or something?

"Yes, sir. I do. Let's just go already," she said, attempting to disguise her annoyance. Chrom and Lissa stifled their laughter with balled fists in their mouths, and Frederick's mouth curled into an expression of distaste. Ah, it looked like she must work on not being so transparent.

But she would do that only when _he_ worked on not being such a pain in the arse.


	2. Tying Knots

"Can't keep up?" a smug voice asked Robin. She was furiously crunching through the forestry to look for game, while Chrom and Lissa went to look for firewood (though the Princess had originally wanted to hold down camp, when it was pointed she'd remain alone she was more than eager to look for supplies).

Robin would have enjoyed the fresh pine-scented air hugging her body, but his incessant lecturing was becoming tiresome fast. If he's trying to drive her out, it wasn't working (despite her temptations to grab a log and hit him over the head with it).

"_Forgive me_, I just woke up a few hours ago with no idea as to what the _hell_ happened in my life before I saw a dashi—a man with blue hair pick me up from a field. So _excuse_ me if I'm not up to par with your _standards_!" she snapped at him and he paused to look back at her with a curious look that flickered with something she was sure was suspicion.

"As you claim," he shrugged, and glanced over his shoulder. "What were you going to call milord? Dashing? Forgive me woman, but I must ask you do not set your sights on him." And with that he turned his back to her once more and crouched down, somehow managing not to rustle any leaves.

That did it.

She took a handful of berries and pelted them at his back. His armor impeded the projectiles from hitting him directly, but it clanged loudly and she heard the sound of hooves retreating.

Ever so slowly, he turned back to look at her with a grimace.

"Sorry?" she raised her hands in apology and offered what she hoped was a cute smile. But he was not pleased.

"Thank you for chasing the elk that I managed to get a good aim on, in spite of your ruckus. Now what do we do about dinner? Maybe you should just get back to camp and sit there like a good little girl." The calm coldness was slipping into something that was akin to hate. What was it? Did he _so_ hate being proven wrong? She could admit it was something that would bother her too, but surely not to this extent!

"Well maybe if you could afford to be a little more kinder, we wouldn't have this mess to handle! Anyway I'm sure there's plenty of other options for us, why you must have a—" she swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth. There was only so much she could do to intrude upon their hospitality. And she was alone in the forest with him. Who knew what this bizarre man was capable of?

"I have a _what_?" he challenged her with a frost-covered voice. "_Continue_, woman."

She shook her head and offered him a sardonic smile instead. She started to walk off to bring attention back to their task at hand, but he caught her wrist. His fingers were surprisingly warm, and firm against her skin. She breathed out a gasp, but came to her senses long enough to face him and wrench away from his grip. He was staring intensely at her and flexing his fingers, but something a bit direr came to her attention.

"Bear! Behind you!"

His normally lightning-fast reflexes failed him, and she had to use a wind tome to hinder the animal from harming Frederick; it was a close shave, too, for it surely would have gotten in a good swipe or two.

"Stay back!" Frederick said, and recovered enough to push her back behind him and pull out his spear.

"_I'm_ capable of protecting myself," Robin said, but once the bear roared even she shrunk back a little. But she gave him begrudged admiration; he didn't even wince. He wound his arm back and plunged his weapon into its skin.

The creature cried in pain and swiped for him, and he sidestepped away smoothly, letting the spear finish the job.

She watched with fascination; she was more equipped to fight humans than a bear, and even then hand-to-hand combat was something she had no experience in. Or at least, she felt so. Perhaps he was right in being a bit stern with her.

_Eurgh_, whatever it was, Robin just wanted to eat and go to bed. "Help me tie this, will you?" the man asked, with a bit less animosity in his voice. Perhaps he recognized what she did for her. Or maybe he was just absorbed in his work. She nodded and took a seat next to him, and winced as some debris poked into her skin.

He took no notice, or at least, pretended not to, and indicated for her to pick up some loose ends to fix up. "Do you know how to tie a knot?" he asked after watching you fumble with the frayed material for a while. For the first time that day, his voice wasn't condescending, but almost gentle.

His tone was promising, so she shook her head. If she knew how, it would have come to her by that point. "I see." He pressed his lips together tightly, and then sighed. He scooted over to her and she could smell the musky scent he was exuding. His features were sharp, she noted, as his brow furrowed and his lip curled. Oh, how pleasant a smile would look, she thought wistfully. For the sake of curiosity, she assured herself. Nothing more. "Let me show you," he said, and in slow deliberate movements, he eased the rope into becoming a formidable hold. "Think you got it?"

"I think so," she replied, and took it into her hands. "Let's see…" She got through the first steps easily, but then blanked out. Was it over, or under? Or do I just twist the damn thing around?" Frederick tutted and took her hands in his.

"Pay attention," he ordered her, and started to help her finish up the knot. He was unbearably close and she tensed up. The proximity made her highly uncomfortable. What made him think he can just touch her?  
"I got this. Please, move back," it came out rougher than she intended, and she could see the discomfort shadowed in his visage.

"_Gladly_," he said, and made a show of moving away from her. "I can finish this up. Your position doesn't seem to be kind to you." He nodded at her knees. Ah, so he had noticed.

"I can do this," she insisted and stayed put. Just when he was being a bit more bearable, she had to go and bungle this up.

He shrugged. "No loss to me."

"Good."

"Fine."

Chrom beamed at Robin when the disgruntled pair returned to camp with a dead bear in tow. "Ah, you've returned with dinner I see! Well done, Robin." He said this with such warmth, it's as though he's been waiting ages to see a dead bear, and that she'd delivered one just for him.

"Oh thank you Chrom," she said and glanced down at her feet. She felt a bit warm all of a sudden.

Frederick snorted beside her, and was loud enough to only be within her earshot.

How rude!

"This young woman indeed was helpful. She managed to cast some wind to spare me time to wrangle the animal into dinner. She's a marvelous addition; I've even taught her to tie knots!" Robin bristled. She knew a backhanded 'compliment' when she heard one. Two could play at that game.

"Oh yeah, but Frederick would have done _all_ the work if I hadn't stepped in to keep the bear from taking a good swipe out of his face. Really, he's so dependable!"

Chrom's smile became slightly strained as the two of them started taking digs at each other. He wondered if this is what it was like to take care of him and Lissa. He and Lissa glanced at each other, and she nudged him to cut in.

"Erm, perhaps we should get around to actually preparing dinner? Just a thought."

This cut off the bickering pair. Frederick rubbed his neck sheepishly and bowed his head in embarrassment.

"Of course, Milord. " He threw an annoyed glance at Robin, who, not to be outdone, stuck out her tongue. The knight had the strangest urge to laugh at her immaturity, but he settled for rolling his eyes and getting to work.

Robin nodded silently, put out that she didn't get in the last laugh. She'll win the next round, for sure.

And win she does. Whilst enjoying the hearty meal of bear (which she noted Frederick didn't touch at all; perhaps he assumed she poisoned his portion) she had slipped into the spot between Chrom and Lissa.

"Dinner tastes better already," he said and ruffled up Robin's mess of white hair (turned out going hunting did not spell for a good hair day, and tying it did nothing to help). "Having a new companion sure bolsters the spirit."

"Yeah, even bear tastes a bit better," Lissa agreed, but she still pinched her nose before taking another bite of the leathery scented venison. "But only a bit."

"I didn't really do anything," she said modestly and blushed, and suddenly showed greater interest in her food. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. But she was starving, so perhaps she wasn't the best judge. All in all, it was mostly pleasant. The fire was crackling and warmed her up. The night air provided a cool atmosphere. Her new friends were kind and didn't smell badly. It would be a bit more exciting if it weren't for the man glaring at her.

"Peh" Frederick scoffed from his spot opposite the others. What a disgusting show, he thought to himself. Who was this girl to show up out of nowhere and win their affections? Did they forget who actually prepared the meal?

"Whatever you did was more than enough," Chrom assured her, then suddenly leaned in. Robin stiffened, Lissa was busy making faces, and Frederick seemed like he was about to charge to save the chastity of his charge. "You've got something on your face," he said, and brushed away some meat from the corner of her lips. The skin has flushed right there, and she found that she wasn't hungry anymore.

"Th-thanks." She found herself admiring him a bit longer than she ought to.

"I suggest we tuck in for the night," Frederick stood up and announced, after discarding his untouched meal into the fire. "We've spent long enough _fraternizing_ around the fire."

"I suppose you're correct," Chrom said, and glanced at Robin with an apologetic smile. He was sure that Frederick would warm up to Robin in no time. At least, he hoped so.

Robin wished that the group had thought to bring warmer blankets. Not that she could really complain, but the chilly air was really starting to bite her. The second she lay down an annoying coughing reached her ears.

"What!" she hissed at him, and whipped her head at him with a dangerous temper. Even the hard ground was a relief for her aching body. The scent of grass was welcome to her nose, and she found an acceptable spot away from any gravel. She'd found marks imprinted into her skin from earlier, and was not fond about going through that again.

"You must remain by my side," Frederick said, with an ever-pompous tone not hampered at all by fatigue. She wondered if he was made of the steel armor he had been wearing. Robin was surprised how easy it was to remove. Probably it was needed for times of combat. But they were only shepherds weren't they? Why bother with such armor anyway. She was subconsciously sizing him up. She would have been satisfied to see a lack of muscle under all that, but his frame was lithe and toned.

It irked her to see him so fit and proper, wearing a formal vest and tie to boot. Why did he have to be so damned perfect? She'd bet fifty gold that he could probably knit too.

Maybe he's really hairy underneath all that, she mused. Her grin betrayed her inner babble, and he scowled at her. "I don't mean it in _that_ way. I would appreciate it if you weren't to make such an assumption."

"It's not my fault your statement sounded like you were trying to come on to me." She disguised her real thoughts by playing along with him. She'd rather not explain she'd been contemplating his form so much.

"Please, don't flatter yourself. I will _never_ hold a desire to hold even a flicker of a flame for you."

"And I don't care for you to. Now please tell me what you want of me instead of hovering over like a craven." She'd thrown out whatever bitter propriety she was using for him out of sheer annoyance. It's not like he spared any blows for her.

"I said so. I am warning you that I will remain in close proximity to keep you from any funny business, so as to not alarm you with any unfounded suspiciousness. Understood?" Unfounded suspiciousness, as though _he_ had any room to talk!

She had the urge to complain to Chrom and Lissa, but the two siblings were already steadfast asleep. And they'd done more than enough for her already. _Heh, their faces are so cute…Why can't Sir Uptight be as nice as him? Oh well, there can only be so many men that are both kind _and_ handsome. _

"If you would stop making eyes at Milord—"

"I'm not making any eyes at him! Goodnight!" She drew her blanket over her face and squeezed her eyes shut. If she couldn't see him, he would disappear.

What she didn't see that he relented being so harsh with her. He would almost find her petulance cute. But duty called first, and he had no room for niceties when she could pose danger for his beloved charges.

"Goodnight," he said almost pleasantly. It wasn't filled with warmth, but he'd decided to drop the curtness…for the present. He lay down on the ground and didn't even bother with a blanket or a sheet to lay over the ground. In truth, there were only three, and he gave her his. He didn't disclose this to anyone, but he was a gentleman. This was easy.

When she heard him settle, she turned back to peek out at him. No blanket? Is he acting tough? But surely it must be uncomfortable. She fidgeted and some sixth sense had him aware she was watching him. "Go to sleep. We have an early start, and I don't want to hear any complaints about being tired."

"Yeah, yeah," she said and drew her blanket back over her, snuggling for the thin fabric for whatever warmth it spared.

He chuckled to himself very quietly, and dozed off easily.

When the chaos awoke him, he found that someone had covered him with a blanket.


	3. Heated

**_Sorry for the short chapter!_**

Robin is in for a rude awakening not more than a couple of hours after finally dozing off. Frederick is shaking her shoulder, and she's jerked awake to see that he's all in his armor again, with supplies and weapons slung hanging off of his horse. "No complaints," he said before she even opened her mouth. "Milord and Milady are gone, and I detect an ominous cacophony coming from the distance."

This has her up and ready to go in an instant. He leapt up on to his horse, and beckoned for her to do the same. When he saw it was taking too long, he grabbed her by the waist (eliciting a rather surprised yelp) and sat her behind him himself. She had to cling on to him for dear life as they rode away with top speed.

"Too close, Robin," he grumbled. Her position was such that he'd think he'd taken a lover out on a midnight ride.

"Deal with it!" she snapped at him, mostly out of fear and the other part out of embarrassment. She tried to draw away from him, but that didn't work out too well. She settled for blushing, and digging her nails into him a bit less.

He sighed, but returned his focus to find the whereabouts of his charges. He sleeps for a few hours and of course they had to just disappear. Just once could they not keep themselves out of trouble?

And if they couldn't find any trouble to get into, he glanced at the terrified form clutching him, then it looked like they had to bring trouble along.

The knight and tactician exhaled a sigh of relief once they spotted the siblings.

"Milord! Milady!" he catches up to them and thanks the Gods that they're in one piece.  
Robin slides off clumsily off of the steed (in her defense, she has no experience) and has to be caught by Chrom.

"Frederick! Robin!" Lissa hugs Robin enthusiastically, slyly noting that her brother still had a hold on the young woman. But she hadn't missed the way Robin was holding on to Frederick either…Of course, that was likely more for necessity than anything else. Not that it mattered in the current face of danger. She could have plenty of time for analysis later. The girl glanced at Frederick to see that he was none too pleased either. Hoo boy…

For now, there were an intimidating number of monsters getting closer than they'd have liked.

"So what's our strategy, Robin?" Lissa gulps and turns to her new friend.

"Good question." She scanned their surroundings, trying to ignore the nervousness borne of the sight of the hideous creatures. "Hmm, Are those…"

Frederick caught her gaze and answered. "Abandoned forts, yes."

"Then we should take shelter in them whenever possible," she said with a firm nod. "No doubt they will offer distinct advantages in battle. Right…so…" She suggested Frederick watch out for their healer, Lissa, and that she would have Chrom's back. To which Frederick raised an eyebrow, but she in turn snapped at him to stop suspecting her already. A feat easier said than done, but he did his duty in taking care of Lissa, while Chrom and Robin rushed forward to the brunt of it.

"You sure you got this?" Chrom asked, still a bit worried about his new recruit. His brow was furrowed as he lopped off the head of one of those…things.

"I'm sure!" she sent forth a good bust of thunder magic that scorched two enemies at once.

"Nicely done…On your left!" he cried out, and took out a creature that almost took off a good chunk of Robin's leg.

"Thanks!" she smiled gratefully at him before sending some magic to an an enemy right behind him. "Looks like we both have to be careful."

"Yeah," he said, and his eyes crinkled into a smile that gave her palpitations. But no time for that now, she chided herself. She needed to survive whatever the gods sent her way first.

They were a beautiful pair on the battlefield. Lissa and Frederick, when not fighting off monsters, had noticed how the two skirted around each other, not getting in the other's way, but bolstering each other's movements to an effective and incredible pace.

A woman and a man had joined the battlefield and Robin decided that these were probably comrades. The archer seemed to need some extra help, so Robin suggested that Chrom go and help him while she cleans the area. He was reluctant to leave her behind, but she all but pushed him away to help the whining archer in need.

She ran into a fort, and thought she'd be able to settle this, but she'd gotten a bit too overwhelmed by the sudden increase of enemies after.

"You gotta go help her!" Lissa said when her and the knight saw the Risen crowd around their tactician. "I'll be fine! There's no one else here, anyways! I'll catch up, don't worry about me."

Frederick looked down at the girl, who was sweating, red in the face, but still strong and fierce all the same. She'd grown up remarkably well, he thought fondly and patted her head. "I still advise you to take great cautions, milady."

If Robin was feeling sarcastic, she would have called Frederick her knight in shining armor. Her tome was close to exhaustion, and her sword could only to take out so many monsters—and she knew she wasn't so skilled with it anyway. As much as she disliked the man, when she saw his lance pierce through three creatures at once, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

She'd almost regretted sending away Chrom (okay, she'd regretted it a lot) but somehow the knight showing up out of nowhere was for once a sight for sore eyes.

"Thanks," she breathed gratefully. She was sure he couldn't hear him, but his ears picked up her voice perfectly.

"You could stand to say it a little louder!" he said, as he took out a few more enemies to clear a path to her. "Come on." He unceremoniously grabs her by her waist once more to scoop her up on to his horse. "I'd prefer if you focused more on the enemies, this time."

She nodded, still embarrassed from her first time on his steed. Ah, why did it have to be him to return. She looked around for Chrom in the brief moment she was able to breathe, and he just shook his head at her. She could feel a lecture coming from him later on. Don't focus on falling, she instructed herself, and instead made sure to use her tome to it's fullest. His back was in reach to hold on to, if anything went wrong. Oh, how she hated this.

Frederick had to keep himself from wondering if they'd make as excellent pair as her and Chrom. It was an absurd thought. He was only helping her out of necessity. Charging the monsters down with her behind him was rather comforting though. Perhaps it had more to do with her tactics than anything else. Either way, the fight felt like a breeze with her, even though in his eyes she could stand to be much more capable. He'd have to train her hard, he thought with a smirk. Maybe that would send her running with her tail between her legs. That would mean that she'd be sticking around. He didn't know what to make of that.

His thoughts kept him a bit too busy, and if it weren't for her, he'd be unseated. Yet another favor he owed her.

He was drawing too much suspicious to himself. Best get this over with, for the moment, and ignore all of this later on. She didn't look like anything was bothering her. Happy-go-lucky, once again, even if she had just seen the face of death moments earlier. She almost seemed annoyed, after her initial gratuity, that it was _he_ who had come to her rescue.

Or so he tried. Frederick did not miss the watchful gaze of her and his charges after the battle. He'd let them just get healed, to avoid any more frivolous questions involving the bothersome tactician.

But, he found that he had joined in on the lecture the poor tactician was receiving from Chrom, Lissa, and now he. What stake did he have in her safety? That was a selfish question.

It's not like he wished her dead, for the sake of convenience. Her cheerful smile played in his mind. No, he certainly did not wish her dead…

Just…as far away from them as possible.


	4. Present

He didn't understand.

How was this girl such a big part of their army? He was palming a necklace that he'd bought for her some time ago.

He didn't even know why he purchased it. It was a simple amulet. A purple stone attached to a purple ribbon that would go well with her robes, aesthetically speaking.

It started when they'd entered Ylisse. They were weary from travelling, yet Robin was flitting about in excitement, almost like the bird she was named for. "So this is Ylisstol!" she marveled, as though she'd never seen such a gathering of people before. It reminded him of Chrom during his first excursions outside the palace. The same wonder of being out and about, and taking joy in the people. He remembered that Lissa managed to get into mischief and only hoped this one wouldn't do the same.

Lissa had pulled her along by the hand to go gawk at some wares. He had seen that Robin had eyed up a particular trinket, patted her empty pockets, and set it back down before moving along to the next place.

He noticed that Chrom had observed the same thing. His cheeks were a bit red as he stepping in place of where the young woman was mere moments ago. Not missing a beat, Frederick had stepped beside him. "And what do you think you're doing milord?"

"I—Uh, I'm just…getting this."

"For whom? I don't think the color would suit you, Milord." He had picked up one of the necklaces too, and was side-eyeing the prince. "No matter how taken you are with her, wouldn't it be too early to bestow it upon her?"

"Maybe you're right," Chrom sighed and put it back down. "And I'm not taken with her at all." He marches off with an air of indignation, and Frederick can't help but feel guilty.

Especially when he's tempted to buy the piece himself.

It's only for thanks, he told himself over and over again. He doesn't want to owe her anything. She saved his neck during a lapse of judgment. She performed a kindness in sharing the blanket he'd originally given up. But even so, his self-consciousness prevents him from picking up the item. Too flashy, he'd thought. So why did he regret not getting it so much?

He didn't regret it at all when she threw him a smug look when no one else was looking, when she'd finally met Emmeryn. He'd scoffed at her claiming to not know of the status of his lord and lady, but Chrom chided him greatly. She was quite the actress, he'd retorted, contorting her face into displaying seemingly genuine surprise. She was playing her cards right, and he didn't want to fall into her hands. He'd just pass her an extra piece of dessert at dinner.

A piece of cake in exchange for his head not being lopped off? Peh, he'd figure it out later. Right now he had to go dust off…something.

And yet, dusting didn't hold the same fascination and reprieve that it always afforded him.

He was thinking about their march to Ferox. Her cloak provided ample warmth, and yet she was shivering and as pink as rose. Chrom was fussing over the tactician more than his freezing sister, who's cries barely fell on Frederick's ears. He was thinking of how to separate the two. It looked like they'd developed a fast friendship. He doesn't know if it was because of their prowess in battling alongside together, or simply because their banter was an easy one, but it was his responsibility to protect him. Though the Exalt and her siblings had faith in Robin, bless their pure hearts, he was not entirely convinced.

He didn't miss the sly looks she gave him every once and a while, whenever she saw the disapproving looks he'd give her whenever she'd spend time with Chrom.

But then he remembered when he'd seen Chrom sprinting out of her tent with a look of fear on his face, and he'd decided to corner her. "What did you do to milord?" he demanded without any preamble.

"Urgh, Frederick, I didn't do anything. Maybe you could teach him to have a bit more tact—Just leave me alone, will you?"

He started at that. Was that the first time she spoke his name? Or had he simply not noticed, or cared before? Well, he wouldn't say he cared, but he did not miss the way his name came out on her tongue. How she stretched out the second syllable longer than most others. The distress in her voice was something else that stuck out to him. Had she quarreled with Chrom?

He was smiling at that, but only because well, it meant she couldn't sink into her claws into him that well if they were fighting.

"You're pleased my pride has been hurt, aren't you? Good. Laugh about it all the way back. I know you definitely wouldn't think of me as a lady. "

Lady? Pride? What was this crazy woman going on about now? Hmm…He inspected her with shrewd eyes, as he worked the meaning in his mind.

Did Chrom call her unladylike? That must be it. Ah, so then the Prince did own a pair of eyes.

"I'm sure whatever milord has said is to be correct, and if you really cared for his judgment you would aim to better yourself."

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black, being an overbearing nanny that doesn't know when to stop, when his charges are practically begging for him to mind his own damn business!"

Never had he been so affronted in his entire life! That imprudent, foul-mouthed—

"Maybe if you worked more on your manners, you'd come across more as a lady instead of a bumbling oaf like—Vaike." And with that he stalked out, narrowly missing the book thrown at him.

That memory had Frederick stare at the necklace, and throw it into his rucksack. Why then, did he have it out once again? Ah, there was another peculiar feeling eating at him.

He thought of when they were returning. Chrom had apparently made up with Robin again, but Frederick would not allow that so easily. He and most everyone in the camp knew that the Pegasus knight Sumia had quite the infatuation with Chrom. So, deeming her a suitable match, he was prodding the girl in his Lord's direction whenever the chance came up.

He had her sit next to him at mealtimes, war councils, or even during plain downtime. He even set the patrols so the two would be together. Robin was clearly getting the message, because she was quite down in the dumps. She'd been a bit off-color when she saw Sumia give Chrom one of her baked treats. Good. The tactician was finally realizing that she had no place near the prince.

And yet, something prickled at him. Was it guilt? He had nothing to be guilty for. He was simply looking out for the best interests of the Ylissean royal family. And the boy he's raised for so long. That's all there was to it.

Seeing her so crestfallen did have him feel some pity, so he graciously offered her something to distract her.

"Would you like to help me take inventory?" He supposed that putting her to work wasn't much consolation, and something more material may have done the trick, but she smiled at him nonetheless.

"Of course! Put me to work, Sir Frederick!" Sir? He almost snorted at that. So she was adding a formality now? Interesting.

"You make me sound like a schoolmaster, or something…" he muttered as they made their way to the weapons tent.

She treated him to a rare peal of laughter, meant just for him. "You are no less, you know." He was late in finding a witty reply. He was too caught up in the sound of her laughter. How her shoulders shook, and how she managed to perk up even after seeming to be so depressed. He did wonder though, if she was forcing it. That doubt always plagued him afterwards.

He looked over his shoulder to see Chrom with an almost lost look on his face, completely unaware to whatever Sumia was trying to discuss with him.

She had been quite tolerable as they worked together. She paid attention well, and didn't make any mistakes. It was interesting to work with someone that was as sharp with him. As he quickened the pace of their work, so did she. She wasn't one to be outdone and made this clear at every turn they faced.

They were exchanging their typical banter, which consisted of taking digs at the other person, when his hand had brushed over hers. She had tensed up, and withdrew when he found his fingers curl over hers.

"You seemed distressed earlier…" he was giving a weak explanation for the unnecessary contact, but she shrugged.

"It's nothing for you to worry about," she said, as she put away the last sword. "You hate me after all, don't you? That's all you feel for me." She tucked away the weapon and stood up after putting the list away in her robes. "That's all there is to it."

He felt the incredible need to escape and swiftly rose to his feet too. His voice was stuck in his throat and he briskly moved past her out the tent. "I don't hate you," he said quietly, pushing the tent flap back. When he heard no reply, he looked in to see her shoulders slumped, and tears running down her cheeks.

Oh what had he done?

He attributed whatever distress she was feeling to himself. The march back to Ylisse after their rescue of Maribelle was significantly different. Robin had been keeping to herself. Perhaps she was lonely? Lissa was flitting about, and Chrom had Sumia attending to him, even though he threw many wistful looks to the young tactician.

He felt another twinge of guilt, a feeling that was becoming all too familiar. He even lost sleep over it. The look of loneliness and sadness was what haunted him. He had put more thought into it, and realized that Chrom was one of her only friends. She had been a bit too awkward to as of yet fit in with anyone else. Perhaps he should have worked on finding someone to keep this woman occupied.

He'd eavesdropped on quite a few conversations, and could see that she'd scramble for conversation topics outside of tactics and training. She'd sighed whenever her conversation partner left, and she'd resign herself to reading once more, or doing some chore or another.

She'd gotten along swimmingly with Chrom. There was no loss for speech between them. And he'd taken that away from her. His meddling and prying left the girl all alone. But wouldn't it be better to have Robin not have ties to the army? Oh this was such a puzzle to him. He'd go insane thinking about this dumb dilemma all the time. Yes or no? Should I or not? These questions swarmed his mind more than he'd have liked.

Anyways, without intentions either good or bad, this could be for her own good. She'd learn to associate with someone new. Ah yes, that would be fine and dandy. He glances at her out of the side of his eye to see her trying to establish communication with Lon'qu. A fine target! He thought snidely. The brusque mannered man flinched away with Robin, who returned to keeping to herself once more. Why bother, her expression seemed to be saying. Really, he felt like pitying her.

Frederick sidled his way over to her to whisper in her ear. "Feeling lonely?" He was back to his normal banter with her, as though he didn't reduce her to tears just a few days ago.

She jumped from the sudden proximity, and clutched her ear. "That tickles!" she scowled at him, and he chuckled. "Here to harass me some more? Haven't you done enough?" His eyes flickered to Sumia and Chrom, and she didn't miss that one bit. "Well, whatever you're up to seems to be working anyway. I'm fine like this. A little more downtime to myself is alright if it mean's Chrom is happy." It sounded as though she were telling herself this, more than she was assuring him.

"You care for his happiness? Such a short time, and yet—"

"And yet, he's shown me a great kindness, has been a great friend, and I have no quarrel with him." Now this, she had more conviction in. She truly seemed to believe Chrom was a great man and a great friend. When she spoke with this, it made it hard to treat her with such suspicion. He only wished for the best, and if she did too...But her origins were just too gray for him to accept just yet. Hm, but maybe he could see just how much she'd change over time.

"So you don't mind being friendless?" It was a harsh statement he immediately wished that he could retract. Friendless. Naga knows how many people have accused him of being such over the years.

"I'm not friendless," she said a bit too quickly, and brushed her hair back. A nervous reflex, he noted. "I—I'm going to check on something. Excuse me." Before he knew it, he was looking at her retreating back. Just what was he trying to accomplish? It looked like all he managed to do was hurt he. He only wanted to offer her his company, and yet even that backfired. He should have known it wouldn't have worked. Just how would he ever get even with her?

So maybe a present was in order after all. He'd taken a quick little detour to the merchant, and picked up the last necklace in stock. After purchasing he noticed that there was the tiniest rip in the fabric. It would still serve as a fine gift, he thought, and tucked it away without any thought.

Now the next step was to get it to her.

That was a difficult task in itself. He'd rather go on a quest for Excalibur than this. She was avoiding him like the plague. Sending it through a messenger would send the wrong signal. After much pondering he decided on an elaborate scheme that he would carry out during dinner.

He planned to drop her utensils, and then the necklace. Then, she would pick it up and realize it was from him. He would just say it's one good turn for another and then—

His visualizing stopped when she took the seat farthest away from him. Damn it all, was he so repulsive?

Frederick found her going out to the courtyard right after dinner, and decided to corner her and give her the damned thing if he had to chuck it at her head. He opened his mouth to call out to her, when he saw the Prince was already there.

What was this? A secret rendezvous?

He hid behind a pillar to see what was going on and strained to hear bits of their conversation.

A frown graced his sharp visage, as he noticed Chrom had a familiar looking ribbon sticking out of his pocket. It looked like his lord had made the purchase after all. He fingered his own token with a sense of doubt. Well, what would he do with this now?

"I've been meaning to give this to you for a while," Chrom said, once he had Robin's attention. He saw her press the gift back into his hand and shake her head, but Chrom insisted. They speak quietly for a while, and he can't catch anything they're saying, only that she was smiling broadly and was looking at Chrom with a fond look that Frederick did not take to very well.

But wait. What was he doing? Eavesdropping like some common craven was not in his nature. Frederick sighed and left to take an early night. He stuffed the necklace into his pocket and hoped a good night's sleep would be just what he needed. He'd clear his head and focus on the real issues. Keeping the people safe, and protecting the royal family. That was the main goal. Protecting other-argh why was her face in his mind once more. He hurried towards his bed, the only thing that was guaranteed to not confuse him.

Unfortunately, sleep would not be coming for anyone that night. It was time to carry out his duties as a knight and fight whatever new threat had breached the castle. Petty worries would come again once more, when all was safe.


	5. Training of the Body

**It's a kinda fluffy chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

That day, Frederick sent off Chrom just to see what Robin would do. And then, he took to following her around camp. Chores. Nothing but chores. Goodness, the other soldiers were getting lazy thanks to her. It appeared that she was doing all their work for them. Well he couldn't have that? The little miss couldn't slip her way out of loneliness by turning to work. She'd be a fatigued mess on the battlefield.

He instructed some others to take to work with a fair bit of guilt-tripping.

He watched Robin suddenly become free of her workload and coincidentally ran into her just as she was exiting the cooking tent, after being practically shooed away.

She narrowed her eyes as she spotted him, wondering if he had anything to do with it. But of course, he was just wearing his usual grim look. "You need some training."

Robin tried to pretend not to hear him, but he was following behind her with great determination. She looked back at his expectant face and sighed.

"Excuse me, even if you are right, who are you to tell me so?" she adjusted her cloak and walked at a brisker pace. She didn't need any more stinging advice from him. Frederick did search for every opportunity to put her down, but he was almost genuine in this.

"If you are to help lead the movements of this army, it is best if you're not fell in battle—even if you're convinced I prefer that happen." His eyes are steeled, but perhaps from the hurt that his assumption of her assumption is correct.

"You take great pains in planting the thought in my head. But, I suppose training would be for the betterment of myself. And I'm not doing this because you suggested it. I can learn something from your skills." She shrugged as she said so, trying to come off nonchalant, but he could catch a faint blush in her cheeks.

"So you admit that I have an ability to gain knowledge from?" He had a smug look on his face, and he wasn't about to disguise it either. Finally, he'd gained something on her. He wasn't sure what, but it was something.

"My pride isn't such that I'll insult you where you deserve praise. I'm not blind, nor stupid." She adjusted her robes again, and looked at him expectantly. "Well, let's get this over with."

A fearsome smile graced his lips and she gulped. The look he had was quite foreboding.

"Your grip, stance, and breathing are wrong. Focus, Robin. Again!"

He was deriving great pleasure for this. He handed her a wooden sword and instructed her to take a hundred swings at a tree. He had to stifle a chuckle every now and then at her growingly bizarre battle cries.

"Hiyaaargh! YAAAARGH!" she shouted vehemently with every hit. She's certainly attracted a few bystanders. Chrom watched rather fearfully, and asked Frederick to go easier on her. To which the knight naturally said no to, and told her to instead increase her pace. Gaius stood by giving over exaggerated compliments.

"You go Bubbles! You got this! Stick it to 'em!"

Chrom turned pink when Gaius said the word bubbles, and looked at Robin with a troubled expression. Frederick looked at him inquiringly, but got nothing. He shook his head and excusing himself after patting Robin with encouragement. He couldn't even begin to piece together what any of it meant.

Gaius was whooping some more, though with less fake enthusiasm. Frederick gathered that from the shrewd look on his face that he hadn't let any of what had happened gone unnoticed. So the Knight wasn't overthinking things. Not that he appreciated a thief affirming his thoughts; he wasn't even pleased the other man was accepted into the ranks. Was Chrom determined to just pluck suspicious and untrustworthy people and turn them into a Shepherd?

He concluded their training early; well actually he ordered another hundred swings from her and snuck off when she wasn't paying attention. She only noticed when she turned around to yell at Gaius.

This earned Frederick an apple to the head. Spoiled, of course.

They agreed the next session should take place somewhere more isolated. Though odd distractions would be good for her focus, he thought he'd be a little more lenient. (The truth was, some part of him wanted to keep the sight of her working to exhaustion to himself).

"Today, let's throw you into sparring with me. Let's see what's resulted of all of those dramatic swings. Perhaps you won't even need them. Those frightening battle cries of yours just might do the trick in doing in our opponents." Frederick allowed himself a chuckle at her previous display of aggression and she turned pink. She tucked away a few stray hairs in embarrassment and grumbled something about getting started. "As you wish."

He took a few paces back and smirked. "I'll let you have the first hit." Oh how he would relish this. "But I must request you to hold back on your fearsome cries, lest I die of laughter."

Robin bared her teeth, charged forward across the crisp grass, lifted her weapon, and brought it down. The earth hit the poor girl as Frederick easily pushed her away, and her weapon flew out of her hand. "Frederick!"

He felt a strange tingle yet again as she spoke his name, even if with pure annoyance. "Come now. If you can't handle this much, you may as well die now, rather than the battlefield."

She growled in irritation, but it looked like she knew he was right. Though she was too loathe to ever admitting it. She stood up and brushed off her robes and looked up at the sky. The sun was mercifully hidden behind the clouds. The weather was amiable. She had something on her side, at least, from a tactical point of view. The ground was sturdy. Her weapon was light. She could do this.

"Don't admire Mother Nature all day, Robin. Rain or sunshine, your skills are weak."

She stuck her tongue out and retrieved her weapon. She took a fighting stance, but he clucked his tongue. "Do you retain nothing I teach you?"

"That tone of exasperation does not suit you well," she said as he stepped behind her and prodded her into place. "Hey!" she protested, but she did not flinch away from his touch this time, he noted, as she had when he taught her how to tie knots. "Be a bit more gentle!"

"Ah yes, tell that to the next archer to pierce your shoulder with an arrow." As he put her into a satisfactory position, she took the chance to take a whack at him, one that he easily dodged. "Trying to pull one over your teacher? Such dirty tactics."

Robin shrugged, and offered him an impish smile before taking another leap at him.

Slowly her smile changed into a grimace, as she took swing after swing at the man. Not a single hit landed on him, and his grin grew ever the wider. He was barely breaking a sweat, while she was drenched in sweat from head to toe.

"You'll never hit me," he claimed proudly, and she threw her sword at him (which clanged off of his armor). "Giving up now? You might as well die here, because—"

Before he could say his spiel again she launched herself at him sans weapons. Robin took him by surprise and knocked the knight over, and let him take the brunt of the fall. She pounded her fists upon Fredrick with all the frustration she's built up in a relentless attack. He was groaning as he tried to recover from the fall, and she was not making matters better. "You are the worst teacher ever! You horrible, horrible man! You're annoying and an annoying teacher. Irritating, obnoxious, stupid—" Before her verbal assault grew vulgar, he grabbed one of her wrists, and pulled her in closer so they were nose to nose. Her sweat trickled down her face and onto his as they glared at one another. The scents of fresh earth and the saltiness of her sweat filled his nose, but his ire was such he didn't have much room to think of their proximity.

"Listen here. Don't blame your lack of success on my—"

"All I'm doing is whacking trees and trying to hit you but it's not working! Why put me through this!" Robin's nostrils flared and her teeth were gritted. She regretted ever taking him up on his offer. All she felt that happened was that she was exhausted and wasted her time.

"Woman. Get off of me. I assure you, you've improved greatly from the beginning. My fault lies in that I didn't tell you."

Robin finally noticed that she was uncomfortably close to him; she was straddling him, and her elbows would be digging into his chest if it were not for the armor. She scrambled off of him, her cheeks even redder. He stood up and offered a hand, but she ignored it and clumsily stood on her own. "Are you saying this because I've offended your teaching skills?" Frederick could see she'd calmed down quite a bit; perhaps that was the result of giving him a good verbal beating. Or maybe it's because for once he'd given her some semblance of praise.

"Partially," one corner of his lips turned up. "But you can't see your progress. I'll tell you what. You get one hit on me, and I'll treat you to something."

"No biting remarks for a day?" Robin quipped, and for the strangest reason he had to hold the urge to ruffle her hair.

"I make no promises."


	6. Slacking Off

**I think the angst will slowly start ramping up next chapter uwu. Enjoy guys! If you're into Gaius smut, check out my ao3 exclusive series called Diversions under the pen name whitearrow! **

* * *

"Gaius, stop following me around!" The thief was badgering Robin yet again. She made the dire mistake of walking in on him while changing, and hence earned the name Bubbles and a man hell-bent on paying her back for a favor, said man not believing that something called good will existed. They were currently out on a walk around the camp, or rather, _she_ was out on a walk and he was following her around. All Robin wanted was to enjoy the cool night air in peace, but it looked like that wouldn't be happening.

"Hey, I've got good info for ya. Dunno how Blue will take it, but I think you'd care more without going crazy overboard like your boyfriend."

Robin blinked a few times, trying to process what he said. As it made absolutely no sense, she walked away from him as per routine.

He lazily yanked her back by her robes, and insisted that what he had to tell her was good info.

But then something strange occurred to her, just a gust of wind whipped her in the face.

"Boyfriend?" she frowned. "_Who_ exactly are you referring to? I don't have a boyfriend." Although Robin would never admit it, she couldn't help but think about Chrom. She pretended something got in her eye to hide the blush that crept on her cheeks.

Well, whatever it was, it wouldn't happen. She knew Sumia had a thing for Chrom. Though the two of them weren't anything more than acquaintances, she didn't feel like she should get in the other girl's way. Not that Chrom would look at her anyway. Sumia had grace (of a sort) and charm. And her? She was some nobody picked up from the middle of a field. No wonder Frederick all but threw the Pegasus knight at Chrom. So she'd been giving the two space, as they deserve.

Gaius's next statement broke her out of her musings. "Well…Everyone knows you're chummy with that Blue and Princess's nanny."

_Blue? That…Princess…no, the only nanny…FREDERICK?_

"Gaius, he is _not_ my boyfriend!" Robin aimed a whack at his head, but he easily avoided it. It looked like some more training was in order.

The ginger just shrugged. "You're always bickering like a couple. Folks are gonna get the wrong idea." Okay, when has bickering indicated romantic interest rather than dislike? This world was a strange one.

"Wrong being the key word. Urgh, we're not chummy either. Not at all. " She crossed her arms and pouted. She couldn't make it clearer how much she loathed him! Training together was just something that would be beneficial for everyone. She wanted to be in the best shape she could to protect Chrom, no matter what his feelings are, and _he_ wanted that too. Chrom was her best friend, and arguably, one of her only friends, and Chrom and his family were the world to Frederick. That was the _only_ thing they agreed on. That, and the fact that being in a relationship is equally a disgusting idea as it is to the other person.

"Speak of the devil," Gaius said quietly, and nudged her in the side. She looked up to see Frederick with a scowl on his face. Honestly, his face was going to get stuck like that if it hasn't already.

"What's he mad about now?" Robin rolled her eyes stifled a giggle. There was always stuck up his, well.

"What isn't he mad about?" Gaius chimed in, and she couldn't help share a quick laugh with him. "He's always riding on my back about something or another."

"That makes two of us," Robin added, and they nodded at each other solemnly. Their mutual grievances from Frederick had them bond. Who knew? Well, they were both characters of unknown backgrounds picked up by Chrom. No wonder Frederick didn't like them. It also gave them some common ground. More so than any other person she knew in the army. Perhaps she should stop pushing him away and work on Frederick's other assignment. To make a new friend.

It was a strange assignment, and she wasn't sure how it would aid them. It sounded almost like he cared, until he mumbled something about how bonds would fortify the army, and pointed out that she was the one who'd mentioned that briefly in their earlier skirmishes.

"Hey Bubbles, you in there?" he knocked on her head, which caused her to yelp and clutch her head.

"Ow, that hurt!" she whipped her head around to glare at him, but instead came into eye contact with Frederick. He was as fierce as ever. His piercing stare made her feel as though she were guilty of something. He had a knack for that.

"Aww, looks like your boyfriend is here," Gaius said and swung his arm around Robin's shoulders as though they're old friends reunited after an insurmountable distance.

"Gaius!" she tried to shrug away from him, but he held on steadfast, and lightly pinched her shoulder. Frederick tensed up, and looked at Robin as though he were saying, what on earth are you telling him, and why involve me you sneak. Her eyes pleaded with the knight, but he was frowning in response. Typical hardass.

"Buuut, I'm sorry to say I must steal away your girlfriend, and interrupt your longing stares. Bye!" He used his grip on the tactician to lead her away with a bounce in his step, sniggering silently so Frederick couldn't see them and remain staring daggers into his backs. Robin, of course, had no say in this matter.

As much as the man messed with her, Gaius actually did have something vital to tell her.

"A hit on Chrom's life, huh?" The two of them were huddled away in the corner of a tavern not too far away from camp. Gaius took a good swig of ale, while Robin settled with some grape juice of a questionable age. "Who doesn't want to kill him?"

"Welp, ya know what they say, if you can't be them, kill them." He let out a loud belch and returned to his drink.

"I don't think that's how the saying goes, Gaius." She frowned and waved away his smell. Good grief, she'd have to start pestering him on his hygiene tomorrow.

"Who cares, Bubbles? Anyways, the point is, I don't think you want Blue to die. Looks like though you've got a torch for him even though you have a boyfriend already. Look at you Bubbles, ya've got game." Gaius winked at her as he raised his hand to order another mug.

"Gaius, stop accusing me of romantic intentions for every guy I come into contact with!" She yanked his hand back down and slammed it on the table. "He doesn't need anymore!" she snapped at the hopeful server, who glared at her and went back to his work.

"Damn," he looked at the tankards of ale with great longing, but relented under Robin's withering stare. "And I ain't that kinda guy to spout shit all the time. But in my line of work, you learn to read the situation. The boy was blushing when I said Bubbles and flinched like a wasp stung his ass."

Robin had to choose that moment to take a sip and immediately started to choke at the mental image. She sputtered all over the dusty and worn down table, dirtying it further.

"Your descriptions are quite picturesque," she said once she regained ahold of herself. "Goodness…"

"Here," Gaius said, and took her mug. "I'll go refill it for you. Server ain't too sweet on us." Robin nodded and slumped forward on the table, wincing as her sleeves soaked the spittle on the surface.

He came back with two mugs, and as she opened her mouth to protest, he poured down a large amount of ale down her throat. She somehow choked it down as he downed half of his own mug. "It'll take a little practice to get down," he slurred. "You're gonna need it for the next part I'll tell you. They want ya too."

"They want me?" she asked weakly, and found that he was right. She tentatively took another sip. It was bitter and she winced, but she found herself relaxing, something she doesn't remember ever doing.

"Not like that, though they might. You've got a pretty face I guess," he said and barked a laugh.

"You coming on ta me, Gaius?" Robin giggled and hiccupped. Gaius arched an eyebrow. Not even a glass and she was already getting drunk. Perhaps he should have told her earlier…

"Not in this lifetime, Bubbles," he said apologetically. "They don't know what ya look like for sure yet, from what I've heard, but they said it's the blonde girl with the pigtails and a shoddy cloak."

"It's not shoddy!" she said a bit too loudly and pouted. "Everyone's always complainin' 'bout me." She swallowed the rest of her alcohol and slammed the mug on the table. "One more round!"

Gaius looked a little uneasy, but he wasn't going to turn down free ale. It wasn't easy to swallow news that a person had a hit on them. The girl deserved a good drink anyway. They could always talk later, after all. Getting a little loose never hurt anyone.

"To Robin!"

"To me!"

"Gaius, why do I have ta carry youuuuu," Robin whined as she dragged Gaius to camp. It was an excruciatingly slow process as the thief seemed to have no intention to help her out. His pants were getting muddied up from the dew and dirt in the grass, but she didn't care. She sloshed through puddles with a snoring Gaius on her shoulder. She was damn drunk herself, but some part of her knew they had to go back. What would people say if the strange tactician went off and got drunk and passed out?

"Gaius everyone hates meeeee, and now I'm drunnnk...HEY LISTEN TO ME!" she nudged him with her knee and he jerked awake.

"Whassit? We attacked? No dead shit, I'm sleeping…"

"Gaiusssss," Robin let out a long whine and had it. She wanted to sleep too damn it! She pushed him off of her and let him fall on to the ground and plopped down next to him. She'd just sleep here, damn everyone else. Not like anyone liked her. No wonder Frederick gave her the stupid task.

"A disgrace." Great. Now she was hearing him in her head.

"La la la!" she clasped her hands over her ears. "Can't hear ya! I'm not going crazy if I can't hear yaaaa. Ya can't…ya can't yell at me in my head toooo. S'not fair. Everyone hates meeee and ya hate meee cause you've got a stick up your—OUCH!"

A hand jerked her arm up painfully, and her legs were flailing momentarily, until she saw that she was still in midair. "I'm _flying_?!" She was so bewildered at this revelation that she started to flap her arms, and thus hit something with her hands.

A man grunted, and grumbled something about gratefulness.

"Dear Naga, cut it out, you're not flying! You're lucky I found you, and not someone else." The voice was irritatingly familiar. She already sent that annoying man out of her mind. Who could it be. She craned her head up to see his handsome face and gasped. He had to tighten his grip around her rather small frame

"It's YOU!" she said the word like an accusation and he snorted.

"The thanks I get. How did you manage to make it into camp anyway?"

"Oh, we made it? I thought, we were, were gonna perishhh on the street," she hiccupped again, and Frederick would find it adorable if he wasn't absolutely furious. He'd give her the lecture _after_ he reached her tent. He left Gaius behind. He was in no danger of pickpockets in camp anyway. Someone would haul him off of his arse eventually.

"Maybe that would have been your fate. Is carelessness your talent or something?"

"No," she shook her head vigorously and groaned at how that hurt her aching head. "My talent is tactianing."

He rolled his eyes. Yet again he wondered how this woman helped lead the army. It felt strange carrying her like this. She felt frail. It wasn't like she was particularly light, but something about her felt like it could break any second. He wasn't sure why he was doing this. Perhaps it was because he felt it was his duty as a man to. Frederick tried to ignore it, but something about holding her sent shivers up his spine. One hand gripped under her legs, the shape sticking out to him even under her baggy pants. The other were right under her breasts, which were pressed against him too much. He'd felt them on his back a time not so long ago when they were on horseback. Just one more reminder about how much she was, well, a _girl_.

But he wouldn't be thinking about her like that! He had _no_ interest. Especially not while she was in such a vulnerable state. He glared at her coldly, as though it were her fault. She pouted right back up at him, instead of entering another one of their starting contests.

"How come you hate me so much Freddy, huh?"

"Don't call me that."

"But I wanna knowww! I'm kinda cute, right?"

"…What do looks have to do with it?" He wouldn't deny that she was…indeed cute, but kittens and Pegasus foal were too. And more reliable than _her_.

"I don't hate you."  
"So you sayyy. " She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, and he, startled, stumbled for a moment. Blasted woman…He'd have to be wary of her…

Other than that mishap, he ignored her as they finally arrived at her tent, and looked around to see if anyone spotted them. No one, he noted. But the man was careless in his scouting, and missed a certain insomniac prince.

He lay her down on her bedroll, and even tucked her in. She was looking up at him expectantly, waiting for the tongue lashing he would give her. Frederick would feel pity, alas, he was not a man with much mercy.

"You have the gall to go out _drinking_ with that, _man_! What if something were to happen! What would milord do? His burden would increase and—you…you fell asleep." _And kissed me!_ He wanted to add, but it would be a petty remark to tell a drunk.

Robin was snoring in rapid little bursts of sound. He sighed. What was he going to do with this troublesome woman? He touched the spot on his cheek that her lips brushed over. Why did she do that_? "Aww, looks like your boyfriend is here." _He recalled the thief saying something like that but…No, she despised him as much he did she. No question about it. He exited the tent quickly before she could assault him again.

The next morning she found some tea leaves and a note that read, _get ready_.

Oh boy. She fucked up last night, didn't she? She was going to be put through an intense training session as punishment. Too bad she wouldn't be able to use her hangover as an excuse, as he was even prepared for that…Time to make some tea.


	7. Skulking Around

**Sorry for taking ages, I had some finals to take care of!**

* * *

_Once Robin had recovered from the ramifications of her temporarily inebriated state, and somehow managed a brutal training from Frederick (who seemed to have a vendetta against some slip up she might have pulled, he won't tell her what), Gaius sought her out once more._

"Don't take me out for drinks to tell me this time," Robin said the moment his figure approached her. She shuddered at the beating she'd undergone just a while before. "Apparently I did something despicable, and so vile that Frederick wouldn't even tell me what I did!" The knight had looked gravely serious, and almost flustered at her appearance. She tried to thank him for the tea leaves, but he pretended not to hear her.

"Oh yeah?" Gaius waggled his eyebrows, his train of thought clearly coming up with his own picture of what transpired last night. He had been fantasizing after all, after he was left alone to crawl in camp.

Robin hit his arm, and started to regale their interesting conversation.

When she'd arrived to their designated meeting spot, Frederick was wearing a sterner expression than usual. He had averted his gaze, and even flushed for a moment. She remembered him helping her...but that was the full extent of her memories from the previous evening.

"We must train you hard...to keep something so horrendous from ever occurring again." He nodded at her gravely, and she gulped. What on earth had she done? Did she throw up on him or something? Oh Gods, she could never look him in the eye if she did that.

"I'll clean it up! Whatever it is!" she waved her hands around, trying to gesture that somehow she'd fix the literal mess she had probably caused. And then she would swear off of alcohol for good. Or any juices of questionable history, if that was it. He just shook his head, with a look of remorse in his eyes, and her heart sank.

"This is one thing that can never be cleaned...It will forever remain a blemish on our lives. What if you do this to another man?" Throw up on him? She could do that too a woman too, what was he referring to-

Oh.

OH NO.

THEY DIDN'T!

She quickly looked down at her clothes, as though it had vanished the moment she had her epiphany. "Oh no...Frederick..."

"Have you understood now?" he asked her. He took a few strides to her and gazed imperiously into her eyes, his face drawing closer...

She stepped back and gasped. "No! We couldn't have! How could you _do_ such a thing!" She looked positively scandalized, and clutched at her robes, relieved that they had not abandoned her yet.

"If I recall, _you_ had attacked _me_. I will forever remain impure..." He touched his cheek for the umpteenth time since they've met up that morning, and pinked once more.

"I-I did? Why didn't you _stop_ me! My chastity! Who will marry me now?" Robin clutched the sides of her heads, feeling like this knowledge would crush her forever. Oh, she would _murder_ Gaius the second she got her fingers around his throat-

"Your what? Good heavens, no, nothing like _that_ happened. Surely a man of _my_ power would be able to fend off a drunk woman such as _yourself_." He had that gall to say this all so matter-of-factly, as if he didn't cause the misunderstanding in the first place! "I would never let _you_ touch me so intimately, I mean _really_ I have a sense of morality, and I wouldn't hand it over to the likes of _you_-"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Robin said drily, and held back the urge to throw her shoe at him. "Then what the hell happened that you're acting like I snatched away your virginity!"

"I must not say," Frederick said. "I'll let you stew over it. Understand the repercussions of the...act. Now, let us train."

"But-"

"Train, I said!"

And he left no room for argument as he charged at her, using her as a punching bag to forget...the thing.

Gaius doubled over in laughter as she finally finished telling him why Frederick was so hell bent on training her to tears.

"Aw man, you screwed up big time!" he wiped away tears of mirth, that turned into tears of pain as she slugged him in the stomach. "Ouch!"

"This is your fault! Your fault! I did something to him and I don't even remember!" she hit him for each word, and he could feel himself bruising up.

"Easy, easy Bubbles!" he rolled away from her hits, and caught her small fists in his hands. "Now, we've got serious business to discuss, as much as I want to keep seeing you die of embarrassment." She sobered up and bit her lip. The night before was a blur, but some things stuck out to her before her inebriation.

"Chrom's in trouble, huh?" Chrom, her one and only friend here. Ever since he gave her the necklace, she did spend more time with him, but then...she walked in on him, and oh Naga was that embarrassing. She battered him with a soap dish, and even though he had said it was all water under the bridge, she couldn't face him in the eye. I mean, we saw each other naked! she thought in horror. Well, it's not like he sees me as a woman anyways. This wasn't important though (even though it would still pierce her thoughts more often that she'd liked). She cared for him, and would go to hell before she'd let anything touch him.

Gaius made sure her full attention remained on him, before carefully filling her in on everything. He, the spymaster, had learned that there were a band of rogues that made for pretty damn good assassins. What their vendetta was, he did not know, but he knew that their sights were set on Chrom. Were they paid? He did not know either, but it would be better if they had. An ideology carried a stronger torch than material gain.

"And here's the tricky bit. There's someone, somewhere here in the ranks that's part of this." A traitor amidst them! Robin gritted her teeth. How dare someone, part of the Ylissean army take Chrom's trust and betray him like that. Even if it's just a foot-soldier, they're betraying everyone around them.

"Do you know who it is?" Robin asked hopefully. A shake of the head gave her her answer.

"Sorry. They were getting suspicious by the time our two faced comrade was about to join them. I had to bolt."

"Oh." She looked so distraught, that he felt a surge of pity towards the girl. He ruffled her hair comfortingly. She was genuinely worried. Not a surprise. Though he prods her and teases her about her relationship with the uptight knight...whatever it was, she was taken with the prince. It was a pitiful love that she carried in her heart. They didn't spend much time together outside of work. He could see that she wasn't confident enough to keep the man's company. With a pretty, girly woman like Sumia around Chrom, he could see her comparing herself with Sumia.

There was a certain charm to Robin. She was strong, but weak. She could take down an enemy and doubt her strengths in the same turn. She was confident only when it came to tactics, where it was needed. There was no room for doubt when formulating a plan.

In a way it was like thieving. You could think that you're scum of the earth, but when it came down to carrying out a plan, it's mind over matter.

He found that he wanted to help her...beyond a reason that involved helping himself. Perhaps this was...friendship? She seemed more than annoyed by his presence though, to make the feeling mutual. Ah well, they had to worry about a certain commander at the moment, more than all the mushy shit.

"Don't worry, Bubbles. I've got a plan..."

And so they've started sneaking out of camp at night. She's not suited to be a spy, so in addition to her daily training with Frederick, she had to spend her evenings learning to sneak around in shadows. She trades her tactician's garb for plainer ones, nothing too dark to draw suspicious, but nothing too flash either. She's able to blend in easily enough with the bushes. She wasn't sure what would be accomplished with her coming along, but he promised her that she needed to see.

He told her to pay attention to how they worked, how they spoke, how they acted. Each night they looked to see if their little traitor met up with the group, but to no avail. They moved forward, and so did the group. The band followed them, intent on their mission. Robin grew more and more jittery, but he assured her that they weren't up to anything...yet. They were waiting for the perfect opportunity.

At least all of this had improved her agility. The first nights she rustled around in the branches too much. Climbing a tree was an enormous ordeal. But under Gaius's patient instruction, she blossomed. And this translated well to the rest of her skills. She was lithe as she trained, and even got in some hits on Frederick, much to the knight's shock (and it was an injury to his pride, he spent many extra hours training). She was a menace on the battlefield, and Chrom owed her many more dues recently.

Frederick didn't miss these changes. He'd seen her changing her clothing and sneaking out with Gaius. This did not help his suspicious nature at all. Robin and Gaius always came back at different times, not to arise any suspicion, but Frederick noted even this much. Just when Robin thought she'd returned scot-free, Frederick cornered her. Her eyes widened like a trapped animal, and he'd effectively made her as such, as he grabbed her wrists and pinned her against a tree.

"_Speak_," he hissed at her. "I've given you enough of a benefit of the doubt, but you've crumpled whatever trust I've had. What are you scheming?" His eyes bore into hers, his jaws ground against each other, and for the first time she was truly terrified of him. But she realized that it was his intention; to intimidate her. As much as she wanted to say that she'd stand her ground, she was quivering in her boots.

"I-I was here to do some surveillance," she stammered, and winced as he held her wrists with an iron grip. Her skin was screaming, she could feel the bruises forming, and she has no doubt that she wasn't the first person to receive the third-degree like this.

"Poppycock! You spend all your time skulking around with that _thief_, and you expect to just say you're doing surveillance. He was on the opposition side, how do I know you're not plotting against Milord?"

She knew that it was his greatest fear, and it was hard to blame him. She was after all trying to quash the current plans against Chrom's life. She wanted to understand him, because she wished thawt they understood her, that he understood her. She wished she could confide in him, but with his tendency to be overbearing...Gaius was convinced that his affection would get in the way of solving the issue. He loved the royal family as though they were his own kin...She didn't want to blame him...Perhaps she would do the same in his place. She looked into his eyes. Fear, desperation, anger, hatred...And it was the hatred that still managed to stir irritation in the less sensible part of her. She could forgive him, but he should give her a _chance_ to speak for herself!

"He's not—look just because you have trust issues that doesn't mean everyone else needs them. Caution _is_ necessary but you go too _far_!" She wrests a wrist away from him, and her burst of ferocity startles him. That's right. Why should she be so nice all the time? To be so hateful all the time. Her mind was going in circles. On one hand, she wanted to be the bigger person. They had an almost amiable banter as they worked together. He even helped her out every now and then. But his icy glare was just too much to bear. "Chrom is your best friend, isn't he? then why don't you trust his judgement? You even said you'd believe in me in front of Exalt Emmeryn, or was that but a ruse? Maybe you just have such an ego that you-"

"Enough!" He barked at her, and her eyes squeezed tightly, as though she were recoiling from a hit. She opened them slowly to see that his orbs of amber held what looked like remorse, for once. The steel in them died down, and she could feel for the first time, how warm they were. And then she noticed that yet again, how close they were.

Her lips were an inch away from his. his breath mixed with hers and it tasted unbearably and frighteningly sweet. their respiration had grown heavier form the argument, but something else had permeated the haggard air they drew. A tension. Like a string was pulled taut and ready to break, much like their up and down relationship. The strings were frayed, but someone kept gluing them back together. And it's like now someone just added more fibers to the messy rope that was them.

"You wouldn't happen to be jealous, would you?" she broke the silence with words she didn't even understand. Him jealous? Of what exactly? She expected him to ask that, but instead he released her, and stepped back.

"We are done here." He turned around and as always, she had to look at his back. A sight she'd grown accustomed to long ago. Why did she say that? Why did she go ahead and say that?

And why did it end like that? So many questions that remained unanswered. Robin felt very wrong-footed and alone once more.

Robin's mind was in a blur. Thoughts spun around in her head, and she did not like it one bit. And an empty stomach did no good for that either. She stopped at the kitchen for a quick snack. There was a bundle of grapes that lay about invitingly, and she thought she'd help herself to some. It was...sickeningly sweet, she thought. The odd taste distracted her from the tension in her mind. Her stomach felt like someone was trapped inside and pushing to get out. It was painful-much too painful.

Her lungs constricted and breathing became difficult. Oh gods, what was happening? She lost her footing, and clanged into some stray pots and pans; this alerted the night guard. Discomfort seized her throat, and she coughed for what felt like hours. Looking at her clothes, she could see that she'd spilled a good deal of blood from inside of her. Fear overtook the women and tears sprang at her eyes. She didn't want to die. Not like that. She had to figure out everything first. She had to save Chrom. Convince Frederick. Make a friend...

_Don't panic Robin...Don't panic..._

Just as her senses failed her, a strong pair of arms caught her, yelling her name.

_Sweet dreams, Robin._


	8. Danger

"Robin!" Chrom felt his heart stop the moment he saw her fall. He rushed forward with speed he didn't know he was capable of. She crumpled into his outstretched arms fitting perfectly against him. She was small, delicate, and fragile in this state, and oh Naga how could he have ever not thought her a lady? If anything happened...He shook his head. Now was not the time. Now was the time to save his beloved tactician, because something was ailing her and he'd be damned if he let her fall to it.

The blood that trickled from her mouth instilled intense dread into the prince. He took her into a princess carry and sprinted out of the tent.

He passed by Stahl, Sumia, and Lon'qu, all on night duty, and they all followed him, abandoning their posts. This was much more important to them, despite the status of their relationships with Robin.

"What happened!"  
"What's going on!"

The cries were deaf to his ears; he didn't know anything but the woman nestled into his arms. Her face was still, and yet he could see that something was plaguing her mind. Whatever she's gone through...it did not bode well.

There was blood on his fingers and an unconscious tactician in his arms. He looked like his beloved died. The night guard was on an uproar. They had eyes, they could see the danger too.

He said nothing, and only rushed into the medic's tent, where thankfully Maribelle was on duty, if nodding off while immersed in a book of poetry. "Milord," she stood up immediately and tried to help Chrom as he lay an unconscious Robin onto the light cot, reserved for those injured or ill. His face was grave, and it took all he had to reply to Maribelle's relentless inquiries as to what's wrong.

"I...I don't know," he said, his fingers gently wiping Robin's mouth. His voice was pained and shaking, and he felt someone supporting him. The hand on his shoulder belonged to Gaius. He looked exhausted as if he'd recently exerted himself, in the dead of night. Strange that he was out so late, but it was a matter for another time.

"You came out of the kitchen right?" Gaius inquired, a tone of urgency in his voice. He hadn't followed the prince; he'd done a quick round of investigation, and he did not like the results. How he'd convey all this without raising suspicion, he did not know, but diverting distrust was not priority right then.

Chrom's voice was stuck in his throat, and Gaius barked out his question once more. His tone had the healer wince as she went over Robin's vitals, but her rebuke remained inside of her.

"Y-yes," Chrom nodded, and Gaius bit his lip. He pulled out a bunch of grapes from his pocket, and confused everyone in the tent.

"Uh, is this the time to be eating?" Stahl piped up, and the thief glared him back into silence.

"Sure, Stahl. If you wanna to be poisoned."

Poisoned? The word sent a murmur throughout the people waiting outside; there was a larger gathering now. Sumia had gone to wake everyone up, and little Lissa pushed her way into the tent. She barreled her way to Robin, but was held back by her brother.

"Easy, sister," he said, even as he looked distraught himself. The young princess started to sniffle. Her crying lead way to more chaos, and Maribelle had to raise her voice to shoo everyone away.

"I'm working with a patient! If you've not anything constructive to do, then OUT!" the woman was formidable and everyone slowly filed their way back outside, waiting with bated breath.

"I've dealt with this kind of poison before," Gaius said, once the tent was cleared out, save for the two healers, Chrom, and Stahl. The man shifted uncomfortably as he admitted the fact. "Smelled the grapes, and I could tell."

"Smelled the grapes...and you could tell," Chrom flatly repeated the words as he started to approach the ginger. He bared his teeth and almost growled at him as he threw out an accusation. Of course you did. How do I know that you're behind this?" He grabbed Gaius by the collar and dragged him to him, his face contorted with unreasonable anger. "How do I know you're simply trying to act innocent? What did you do to her? Speak!" He sounded like he was about to cry ,and his worries were exacerbated by a raspy,pained breath from Robin.

"Blue. Let. Me. Go," Gaius said, with gritted teeth as he struggled to pry off Chrom's hands off of his neck.

"Guys! Can you like, not with the sausage fest right now?" A pair of small hands pried apart the two men. Lissa stood between them, and puffed out her cheeks. "Now, Gaius, hurry up tell us so we can help Robin." Her tone was imperative and suddenly the girl really did seem like a princess.

"Right..." Gaius was cleared hiss throat speaking. "You see, this is a specific poison from these parts. Slow acting, but I guess Bubbles is too sensitive to it. I think there's an antidote 'round the area..."

Chrom glared at him. "You _think_?" A look from his sister cowed him back into clamping his lips shut.

"I...give me an hour to find things out."

"And give you time to run away? Not likely. How do I even know that this exists?"

At this, the cavalier finally piped up. "Excuse me, Commander, but I believe he might be right. Thanks to my brother, I know that this region has plenty to fill an apothecary's dream."

"And if you don't believe me, I'll take someone with me...Grumpy! You there?"

A gruff voice answered. "I have a name."  
"Great, I'll take Lon'qu. Any reservations, your lordship?" It was clear that Gaius was bitter. His temper was quick to flare, but the man had more tact than Chrom. Chrom shook his head, and Gaius took that as a dismissal. He went over to Robin's sickbed, and was momentarily pulled back by the still suspicious prince, before being allowed to go to her.

"W-we'll fix you right up, Bubbles," Gaius said to an unconscious Robin. HIs own voice quivered, and anyone could see that even Gaius was genuinely worried for her welfare. He'd spend a lot of his free time following after this one. It kind of hurt him to see this one in danger. Seeing her like this, without a hint of her usual fire stung like he couldn't believe. He brushed away some hair from her face, and gently kissed her forehead. "Take care. I'll give ya candy if ya wake up fast."

And with that, he left.

Chrom witnessed the exchange with a surprised look; he didn't think those two got along so well. All he could do then, was wait. He sat by Robin and helped Maribelle administer countless remedies to keep her going. He held her hand and prayed, prayed that a miracle would come. He had too many things he never got to do, never got to say. And he wanted her to live a life to remember.

"Why was I not informed?" The great knight was out clearing firewood to clear his mind from the...confrontation earlier, only to return to a camp in panic. He dropped everything he had (a hazard that a clear minded Frederick would never have created) and sprinted to the medic's tent. To his horror, the majority of the rumors were true (a small faction had proclaimed Robin to be dead; he'd nearly taken out one soldier's eye). He know stares at the scene in the tent in horror. Chrom's head is on the bed, as he grasps Robin's hand with his, while he strokes her face with his other.

"Inform you?" Chrom lifts up his head and looks at Frederick. "Why? What are you to her? You've held nothing but contempt for her, since she's stepped into our lives!"

"I-"

"You're nothing to her, and she is nothing to you. You're good at helping right?" Chrom seemed angry. Perhaps rightfully so. With the way Frederick was going, he wouldn't put it past him to accuse Robin of poisoning herself. But his words always contradicted his actions. Chrom saw him carrying her, looking after her, training her day after day. And now he was here, looking as though someone died. If he looked close enough, he could even see the knight trembling. It made no sense and he didn't wish to think about it. Thankfully Gaius had returned with findings just then.

And Frederick...What could he have argued back anyways? Every damn word was true, and he deserved no less. But he couldn't quell the anxiety in his heart, and the feeling of doom that he couldn't get rid of. He just wanted to see her open her eyes, to do anything, to yell at him, ignore him, hit him...Why?

"I could cut this tension with a knife," Gaius let out a low whistle, as though he wasn't scruffed by Chrom just earlier on. "Right, I met up hungry on the way back, and we've got a game plan." He was met with scowls, but did not falter.

"Here's your chance," Chrom said. "I'm not leaving her side...I can't leave her with anybody else..." He raised her fingers to his lips and pressed gentle kisses, a tenderness that he didn't seem capable of. "But you, if you care at all, then..."

"Say no more, milord. Now you," Frederick directed his attention to Gaius and a sullen Lon'qu. "Speak."


	9. A Task

**I was not happy with the last chapter, so bonus! Thank you for your reviews, I really appreciate it guys!**

* * *

They had gathered a rag tag team of Shepherds to go retrieve the cure for Robin's ailment. It was decided on a purely voluntary basis as the task itself was considerably risky. One half would actually procure the plant, while the other stay behind for protection, which was agreed as necessary when they realized the source and purpose of the fruit.

Chrom had remembered that it was he himself that had put those grapes in the kitchen. He had found them in his tent, with a note that told him to enjoy, but he'd feel bad if he'd had them alone. So he went and deposited the gift in the kitchen. Someone had called his name, and he'd been distracted before he could eat any. This did not sit well with Frederick at all.

"Milord, are you meaning to tell me that you were about to eat grapes from an anonymous person? You, being the prince of Ylisse did not even think that it could be poisoned? How careless can one man be!" His face was turning to an unbecoming shade of puce as he yelled Chrom down. Yes, the man was irresponsible but now this recklessness had someone hurt! And he told Chrom just that.

"I-I know."

"And you think that you're fit to be by her side? That you won't accept any stranger's help, desperate just to save her?" Frederick was toe to toe now, gripping Chrom's shoulders like he'd never have dared to before.

"I-"

"You're too trusting milord, and I must question your judgment at times like these."

They glared at each other in silence, and for once on truly equal footing. Whatever they felt, there was something they held for Robin. And that made them the same.

Before anyone started pulling punches, Maribelle broke it up with a few words. "Oh please, as though I would allow him to do such. Just, hurry up will you?" They were gathered outside the tent, but hearing this exchange drew her out. It's not as if there was any time to waste. She could see Robin's veins at this point, the skin was s translucent. Breathing was getting shallow, and not promising. "It's not looking good."

"Don't say that!" Chrom interjected. He couldn't bear the thought of her...not being there anymore. "Don't."

"Then do what you must, and I will try to save her," Maribelle said solemnly and ducked back into the tent. She was exhausting her supplies just keeping Robin going. She'd sent Cordelia, Lissa, and a formidable group to replenish the stores. She just prayed that it would be enough. If you asked her if she truly cared, she'd answer no in a heartbeat.

But truth be told, more cared for the tactician than she thought.

When Gaius asked around who would be accompanying them, more hands flew up than they had steeds to provide for.

"She's a very considerate woman," Stahl had said. "It would be an honor."

"I respect her," was Lon'qu's reason.

"She's always helping me...I wanted to share my books with her too," Sumia fidgeted, and for her to be on this expedition took a lot of begging on her part. The expertise with pegasi was what got her her spot in this crew. Gaius blamed himself for this, for the lack of foresight. It was unreasonable to feel guilt, but that did not stop him. The most surprising person joining this mission was Frederick, who they'd appointed leader. He said nothing but that he was to go.

"I leave her in your care," Frederick finally said. He looked reluctant but time was ticking. They really had no time to waste.

He'd hoped that his lord would think with his head, for once.

"I don't have a map with an x on it!" Gaius yelped as Frederick slammed him against a rocky wall. They'd arrived at the mountain that supposedly has what they need, only for Gaius to admit he doesn't know where exactly it could be. "I'm sure it's here! At least..."

Frederick narrowed his eyes. "You're sure? Your lanky body is flying off of this mountain if you're wrong." Gaius nodded meekly, more terrified of this man than he was of Chrom. Strange, considering social rank and all that, but Frederick was more likely to make good on his promise.

"Then let's split up," Frederick commanded everyone. "Lon'qu and Stahl can take the other side, while _this _one comes with me. Sumia can fly and patrol."

"I-is that safe for everyone?" Sumia asked feeling timid after seeing Frederick's intimidation. "Just pairs? I'm not concerned for myself, I know she'll keep me safe but the path looks dangerous."

"Sumia," Frederick said kindly. "I know this. But anyone averse to this is more than welcome to go home. Understood?" He looked around the group, but they all looked back with determination (although Gaius was still more than a little cowed).

"How can we call ourselves Robin's friends, if we can't even do this much for her?" Stahl said with furrowed brows, a stark contrast to his usual genial demeanor.

Friends.

Frederick remembered the assignment that he gave the very lonely Robin.

"You want something more to do?" he had asked doubtfully. She looked like she was about to heave from exhaustion, and yet there was still fierceness present in her sweaty, haggard face.

"I want to improve myself even when we're not working together," Robin said, eager to be the best she could.

He mulled over this for a while. If he gave her some task that would have the young princess and prince coming after her, then that would be a nuisance. What's something easy..."Then...make a friend."

"A friend?"

"Do you have any? Besides Lissa and Chrom?" I am not one was a sentence unspoken, but clearly understood.

"...No...I tried but I'm a little awkward," Robin laughed uneasily and twirled a lock of hair around her finger, a nervous tick.

"Then it will do good to better yourself. As tactician you should know how important it is to strengthen bonds...You went on about that a while ago." He was tiring of the conversation already, having worked out himself. "Don't argue," he had said and left her with that.

Making friends...it was kind of sad that he had to assign her such a thing. It wasn't like she _wanted_ to be alone...

And yet Robin hadn't realized that these people considered themselves her friend this entire time. He found the corner of his lip twitching. The girl was remarkable, he had to admit. These people were willing to go through great lengths for her. Even as they spoke, Cordelia, Lissa, and a great number of people were gathering medical supplies in the dead of night. Yet another team was investigating and guarding her. Robin's name was the only thing on their lips that night.

"Then let's get to it. If anything goes wrong, then let's have a signal." There was danger to this. After all, it was the dead of night, a dark mountain, and all they had were torches that were bound to die out soon. The night air was still, and the only sounds heard were by the hidden wildlife and them.

"One step ahead of you," Gaius said, and fished out some small pellets from his pockets. "Flashpowder. Anything goes awry, just smack 'em down hard enough."

"Good," Frederick said with approval as Gaius distributed them. "Now, to work!"

They all exchanged serious glances before returning to the task at hand. They could only pray to be quick enough.

How could Robin handle this all day? Gaius was complaining endlessly as they hiked up. It was too dangerous to take the horse up any further, and they have to trudge through greenery, rocks, mud, and gods knew what else. And it didn't make it any better that this man would not shut up, despite what threats he was receiving.

If it wasn't because the darkness cloaked their goal, it would be because Frederick would lose his mind to Gaius. They'd been at this for a couple of hours, and he wondered how the man could keep going. Of course, he now complained about being parched...Which was no one's fault but his. He spoke to keep the tension at a minimum, he knew, but it was still so damn-

"Hey!" Gaius increased his volume, so that Frederick couldn't even find refuge in his thoughts.

"What?" Frederick growled.

"There's a stream up ahead!" he hurried up and outpaced Frederick, for once, to greedily gulp down the liquid. "Mm, that hit the spot!"

"So you can keep annoying me...Great..." He complained, but he refilled his flask and quenched himself too.

This of course, caused them to take another break not too much later.

"Can you not-"

"No," Gaius whined and danced on his toes. Which would probably make the matter worse. "I'll be back!"

Frederick considered leaving him behind at this point. But now...It looked like he needed to relieve himself too. It was embarrassing to admit after making such a big fuss about the issue, but if he went quickly enough then no one would be the wiser.

"Ah..." Frederick had to admit there was nothing better than relieving one's bladder...He was just about to zip up his pants when he noticed a strange glowing from above. It was faint, very faint, and one with a less attentive state of mind would not notice it. But the color..it was a peculiar shade of purple and had to be what they were looking for. It was rather high up though...

"Sumia!" he was yelling her name as he ran forward. The night air reminded him that he needed to zip up his pants first though.

He'd flagged her down miraculously fast; she had been on this side, and spotted him frantically waving his arms. He was about to start a fire, or use one of those flash bombs, but that might have worried the other party. As he's climbed behind her onto her trusty steed, he'd remembered just why he'd never wanted a flying mount. He realized this as he saw just how...high they were...

"Are you alright, lieutenant?" Sumia asked him. Surprisingly she was more calm than he for once. She'd maneuvered them to where he saw the light and clucked her tongue.

"Just fine...What's the matter?" he asked. She seemed very unhappy.

"Well on the bright side, we've found it but-"

"But?" he pressed.

"It's not somewhere you can reach easily. You have to crawl in a little, and I don't believe you can reach from here."

The implications of what she said had his stomach reeling. He looked down...The way down was quite far from there...There was no way he could ask Sumia to get it. The damned crevice. It was shallower than Virion. "Alright. Sumia, do you think we can get a little closer so I can get in? "

"But Frederick you'll die!" Well, that vote of confidence was quite assuring.

"Well, I've had a good run," he said with a grimace, and after repressing the urge to hurl out his dinner, he slowly lowered himself into the hole. He shook as he grasped at edges to hold on to and his heart was pounding. Her nervousness was making him even more scared, and he was cursing himself out for the cowardice, but...could anyone blame him?

He didn't have to go in too far, because there was no where else to get to. His broad frame took up all of the space, and didn't even fit inside. But the plant was there as described.

"It glows, kinda looks phallic," Gaius had been describing to the group before they set out.

"Phallic?" Chrom had frowned.

"It means it looks like a dick. Wait no-" his throat was being choked by a few different people, none who wanted to believe that the cure was a glowing, phallic plant.

Frederick sighed as he wrenched the plant out. It was as if Naga was playing a very distasteful joke on them. It did appear to be rather...phallic. Good heavens, may this all be over with soon.

Just as he safely stowed the plant in his pockets, and gingerly tried to get back on to Sumia's mount he slipped. He'd stepped somewhere slick, and with nothing to grab on to in time, he tumbled down, the last thing he heard before he blacked out were people shrieking his name.

If they found his body, hopefully Robin could still be saved.

Ah, what a failure as a knight.


	10. Rush

**_Next chapter will be a new arc! Thank you everyone, for your amazing comments, and favs and follows!_**

* * *

"Do you think he's dead?"  
"Oh, Gaius don't say that!"  
"Is it cause you're worried it's your fault, since you didn't catch him in time?"  
"_Gaius_!" Three voices reprimanded at once.

The sound of bickering was not favorable to Frederick's pounding head. He felt like there was a small army running around in his head, and the rest of his limbs too. He couldn't move them, and panicked, but that settled once his arm reached up automatically to hit a certain thief.

"Yep...he's alive," Gaius said, and rubbed the side of his head. His pain was a dull echo of what the knight was feeling. "Aim is pretty good too. Guess he didn't get that beat up after all." The disappointment in his voice was pretty evident, and Lon'qu pointed it out, while Stahl was helping right Frederick into a sitting position.

"You don't seem so pleased about that," Lon'qu said, and offered it to Frederick. His eyes were still closed, and his face contorted into a grimace. "We've got a few vulneraries in you. However, we weren't sure about the dosage..."

"That explains why my, urgh, head is spinning." He rubbed his temple as Stahl pat his back, and Frederick noticed that his armor is gone. His eyes finally open and he looks around for it, and sees that Gaius is carrying it, while eyeing it up. He'd have to make sure that the thief didn't sell it behind his back and claim that he was doing him a favor.

"That and the twenty foot fall," Stahl added. They'd heard the screams from Sumia after they noticed her flash powder, and had proceeded to make their way to the spot as soon as they could. Stahl was an optimist, and hoped nothing would go awry, but Lon'qu had only grunted and said that something of this nature was to be expected.

"Yet I live," he smiled wryly. He remembered just why he fell. He's amazed that the girl was able to signal the others and manage to find him in the dark.

"I caught you after you got kind of banged up," Sumia said, and he knew that she was blushing even though it was pitch black around them. "I'm sorry...I panicked, but my girl knew what she was doing. And you're very heavy!"

"So she dropped you again," Gaius chimed in shamelessly. "Luckily for you good sir, I caught you. I expect repayment at your earliest convenience."

Of course, he did. But what was important then was the medicine. He scrounged around in his pockets and panicked when he couldn't find it. "Where is it?" He patted his clothes frantically, pain and dizziness unimportant. There would be no point to any of this if the task at hand wasn't completed. He couldn't bear the thought of his annoying pupil being so lifeless, pale, and...

No. Perish the thought.

"I have it here," Lon'qu said, and tossed a pouch into Frederick's lap. "It fell out of your pocket. I scavenged around for the plant as they treated you." His words are simple, but his face says something else. Frederick can see little cuts and abrasions. There is quite a bit of dirt clinging on to the other man, and he can gauge the hardship he's gone through too. A sincere soldier, Frederick thought proudly. Serving the army so loyally. That or...like everyone else he also had a soft spot for the girl. Sumia, Stahl, Gaius, Lon'qu...all looked ragged and terribly exhausted. Well their efforts weren't going to go to waste. Not if he could help it.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Frederick stood up with such vigor, no one would have guess that he was just battered by a mountain. "Let's put the tactician out of her misery." He lead a determined march down the path, with the others hurrying to keep up.

"That is not the choice of words I'd go for, Tight Pants," Gaius grinned, as he handed off the bulky armor to Lon'qu, and surpassed a frightened Sumia.

Tight pants? Bah, what a strange man.

There's a commotion the moment the team set foot in the camp. As raucous as everyone was, people stepped aside to make way for them to bring the cure. It seemed as though no one slept all night; the sky was gradually turning lighter, and Frederick worried as to whether or not they were too late. he glanced around at somber faces, which weren't a good indicator of what had been going on other than that she was not yet healed. He staggered through, and straight into the healing tent. Chrom was changing the damp towel on her head, while Lissa and Maribelle looked to be mixing something together.

And Robin...her skin was frighteningly translucent. He could practically feel how weak her pulse was from where he stood. He quickly handed the pouch with the plant to Maribelle; which he'd safeguarded with all he had on their way back. They'd ran into bandits on the road, but he took them out without flinching. Truly, the man was terrifying when something...perhaps someone...this important was on the line.

As soon as Maribelle had the plant in her hands, he'd rushed over to the unconscious tactician. He took her cheeks in his hands, and shuddered at how cool they were. There were still faint traces of dried blood around her lips, and he took the towel on her head to wipe off the stains. Chrom watched him, rather bewildered. He felt a pang in his heart at how his knight held on to her...when he himself had been clutching on to her hand for so long, claimed for himself.

"We've been doing our best," the prince took it upon himself to inform him, although why he felt there was a need for it, he did not know. Rival or not, the most important thing right then was her. "I don't know how it matters to you, but as you've lead the expedition..."

"Thank you, milord," Frederick muttered absentmindedly, and then directed his speech to Robin. "Hey you. You mustn't keep me waiting for our training. Stop pretending you can't hear us." Her breath shook and he felt a temporary surge of hope, thinking she woke up. But of course it was just a false start...she remained asleep.

He felt something well up in his eyes, and it frightened him. The fear and despair he felt was unnatural. He'd dealt with the death of many comrades, comrades that he considered his friends. But this one girl...was turning his world upside down. He didn't want to think about it, and took it out on Maribelle.

"Is it not prepared yet?"

She clucked her tongue and ignored him as she was finishing the mixture. He pressed her again, and she finally spoke. "You and your team took your sweet time about this. It'll take me a minute, hold your horses."

She looked like a mess. Her hair was flawed, and she was running ragged trying to keep Robin alive. That poison probably would have killed her if Maribelle hadn't shoving every remedy she'd ever known of. She felt horrible for letting Lissa go out so late to retrieve supplies, but the princess wouldn't take no for an answer. She'd been switching in and out of tears, but helping all the same.

They were finishing the touches on the plant and...there!

"Ready," Maribelle said, and briskly doled out the mixture on to spoon. "Lissa dear, get me some water." Frederick and Chrom quickly made room for the two girls, and started praying harder than ever. This was it. It was a now or never moment. If their efforts were futile...they would lose her too.

Frederick propped up Robin to an upright position, and her body was only held up by his support. His hold was gentle, as though he were holding a doll. Chrom took the water from Maribelle, and they made one final prayer before sending the medicine down her throat. It was a struggle getting it down as she kept coughing it back up, but with much coaxing and pleading (all deaf to her ears) they fianlly managed it.

"What is the course of action we must take now, Maribelle?" Chrom asked, and beat everyone to the punch.

"Now, we wait."

Waiting was very painful indeed. Frederick had been sent to procure more supplies (they were scarce in the middle of the night, but the dawn promised more wares). He didn't see why he had to, but he wasn't about to hinder her healing process. It was growing more and more painful to watch her anyways. Her sleep had been growing fitful, which was a welcome sign to them. It was the first activity she was showing, and her fists had clenched the sheets. Chrom had gently cupped her hands with his, and whispered to her. It was when she'd murmured Frederick's name that the knight had been excused.

He was working diligently, even though he had many injuries to tend to, he revealed them to no one, and had forbid his team members to disclose them to anyone. There were raised eyebrows at his lack of armor (he'd had Gaius return it to his tent) but not one word came out of him. He limped when no one could see him. It felt like daggers were stabbing into his skin, but he reminded himself that he'd gone through much worse.

He returned to the tent with great timing. Their tactician was finally beginning to stir. Frederick quickly replenished the stocks, and stood behind his lord, who was still holding on to Robin. She was slick with sweat, and was shaking yet again. But her murmuring started to increase. She suddenly shot up, clutching on to her head. Whatever nightmares were plaguing her didn't dissapear; her eyes looked like she was still lost in another world, and he could see tears streaming down her face.

And he felt anger. Anger that someone would administer this type of poison to her. Or anyone, considering that she wasn't the intended target. Chrom or Lissa could have easily fallen into such a trap. But it was she who was in peril.

Yet he...he said that she'd planted this on purpose? Taken it on purpose, even? No... Though he doubted her at every turn, he couldn't think that she'd be this willing to suffer pain. The poor girl was trembling, and Chrom had enveloped her in his arms, trying to soothe her to the best of his ability. He was about to do the same himself, but of course she had no room for him.

No, what was he saying? There was nothing in their relationship besides antagonism. He was simply duty bound to Chrom and Ylisse to make sure nothing funny happened under his watch. Chrom's concern was beyond that of a friend, and reminded Frederick that he wasn't even that much to Robin.

Not that it mattered.

Well since her life was now out of danger, his work was done. He quietly exited the tent without drawing any attention to himself, only grabbing a few medical supplies to fix himself up.

What he did not expect, however, was a pale Robin bursting into his tent not too much later. Gaius had 'let slip' what transpired on the mountain, and Robin found the need to come visit him. As though he was the patient. She was still rocky on her feet, as she had just survived dangerous poison. He could see Chrom standing right before her, his body as her support. And here she was, demanding that he gets seen. He had stripped down to his under armor clothes at this point, to treat every cut he had. Self-healing was not pleasant, but he didn't wish to waste any more vulneraries.

Her seeing him like this...he felt vulnerable. And the last thing he wanted was to feel vulnerable to her.

"What is of me, does not concern yourself." A cold sentence was all he gave her before turning away, and thinking she'd get the message. He didn't know what he hoped for, but he didn't expect to be hurt by the simple "Okay," she told him before leaving.

It's strange how one word could stab him so much.


	11. Introspection

_**Thank you for all your support! If you'd like, you can come talk to me at my personal tumblr butler-joker. Or you could always stop by my imagines blog imaginefeawakening to get heaps of fic! ~Thank you once again~**_

* * *

Chrom was much happier these days. Robin would be by his side, from morning to night. He hadn't managed to grow accustomed to the sight of her meeting with Frederick every day, whether it be for chores or for training. Whenever he himself had wanted to train with the girl, Sumia or Lissa would mysteriously show up, and by the time he'd search for Robin, someone would tell him that she'd gone off with Frederick.

At first he was worried about Robin training with Frederick, because of the antagonism between them. Although if you asked anyone else, they would say that the hostility hadn't dissolved yet. He's called daft, oblivious, naive and so forth, but he couldn't miss the small changes in the group. He'd worried about her being alone, but she'd made herself quite the odd friend of Gaius. When Frederick wasn't around, and she wasn't helping someone, Gaius was.

Though they weren't joined at the hip, he couldn't say that he hadn't spent any time with her at all. She'd be at his tent once a day to discuss strategy. She'd be so into it that there wouldn't be any room for idle chatter. "It's the only thing I'm good at," he remembered her once saying. That had sent a pang through his heart, and he yearned to tell her that's untrue. Sensing her moment of weakness, she quickly changed the topic and skirted around the issue, had he tried to delve into it once more.

She was very wrong about herself. Whenever they were on the battlefield she was on fire (literally, one time, when she got a little carried away with her arcfire tome). All the training she went through seemed to kick in during battle. He couldn't even count the times that she had saved him. He never could thank her properly; they were always separated after the fighting. But no more. He wouldn't just keep going along with this.

A lot of the avoidance stemmed from the fact that he, well, he may have wronged her a few times.

She had said something about needing some more beauty sleep, and he committed the faux pax of saying how he didn't really see her as a lady. Of course any woman would take offense at that, he had later realized. He tried to remedy it by telling her that she just didn't fit his image of a refined woman, and that...didn't help matters either. He wanted to go back and apologize to her again (he had quickly escaped at threat of having his head bludgeoned with a rock) and saw that Frederick was with her. And of course as always, Sumia appeared from nowhere. At least he had a pie to eat while he was wondering just what was going on...

To make matters worse...he had done something horrible. He didn't know what was going through his mind, but he had the idiocy to walk in on her whilst she was naked. Not a strip of clothing on her and he was there. He had only felt this wrong footed once before, the time Frederick had organized a room full of suitors for him. Except there was a mixup and just about every girl in the kingdom had showed up. And he had to run.

A _lot_.

He felt like he was in the lion's lair, except this time there was something going on down of intense fear, it was a mixture of life threatening fear, attraction, and utter confusion. And that time instead of bolting for his life and calling for the guards, his feet were rooted to the spot. Being a man...as upright as he considers him to be...He couldn't help but look. The man was entranced. Little beads of water rest on her creamy skin, and of course he was looking at, erm, those parts.

No wonder she had been screaming at him.

He remembered vaguely wondering if the former thief had walked in on her in a similar fashion, considering the nickname he'd picked out for the girl. Not that he was brave enough to ask this, of course. Chrom was idly recalling these memories, as he was currently lying down with Robin. It was an...interesting arrangement.

The effects of whatever poison was in her body still lingered. Not necessarily physically. But the images that were produced when she first saw them, too terrible to describe, caused her a constant source of worry. The worry then translated to having more and more night terrors until sleep became pure hell, and he found her doing whatever she could just to avoid it. Watching her squirm and shudder in sleep struck pain into his heart, and he'd do _anything_ to quell the fear in her mind.

After they'd left Frederick's tent (he had strongly advised her going there at such a time, she couldn't even walk without using his arm as support) he'd dragged her back to her tent. She was very...muted. Although she sounded nonchalant in her response to Frederick, he could see just how crestfallen she was. He held his tongue as to not chide her, or to tell her that he knew it would come to no good. It's not that he didn't' want to help Frederick (who he considered as close as blood)...but whatever she had been expecting wouldn't happen. The knight wasn't looking for friends, never was. He'd busied himself in his work...much like she. The two had more in common than they'd thought. He supposed maybe that's why they clashed so much. The selfish part of him hoped that it would continue like this. The two of them bickering together. Because when he saw them...getting along rather well, a part of his chest hurt.

So now that he had Robin in his arms, he squeezed her tightly, not wishing to let her go. The first night when they'd went back to her tent, she had reached out to clutch his arm, begging him not to leave her alone with her dreams. He'd accepted, murmuring some excuse about how needed to make sure she would be getting medicine in her anyway. He could have easily sent Lissa, Sumia, or any of the other women she got along with, but like the selfish man he was, he's slipped into her bedroll.

The blue haired man convinced himself that he was only letting her have an easy sleep, as he continued this routine every night. He drank in her warmth, intoxicated just by being able to hold her. He recalled vehemently denying any attraction he had for her, but oh what a liar was he.

He couldn't keep his eyes off of her since they met. Frederick of course had something in his ass that told him to keep Robin away from the prince and princess, and he'd wondered out loud with Lissa if the two would kill each other in the forest before they could even reach Ylisse. Lissa bet on Robin. In a way, his sister was right.

Robin was taming Frederick, whether or not either party realized it. The girl's charm had something to make even the most stalwart warrior relent. Her smile could sway nations, and Naga, would he consider himself the luckiest man on earth if he could wake up to it every morning for the rest of his life. It seemed to him as though Frederick actually did feel something change. The cold response he'd witnessed...why? Was it because of the display of worry the knight had shown them all? Was it because of the inflammatory words Chrom and said in the heat of the moment? But how could the prince regret them if it meant...if it meant that he himself would be closer to the girl right next to him.

Frederick, you idiot, she murmured in her sleep. "Don't go...please..."

And so her thoughts was still on his knight, even as she slept in his arms. Her white blonde hair was splayed over his arm and chest, and a little bit even tickled his nose. He stifled a sneeze as not to wake her, and gently poked her nose. She wrinkled it, and mumbled something, before sighing and settling into him comfortably. He was probably sinning more than the patrons of a brothel, but he couldn't help but indulge himself.

He'd allow himself one more the night, he thought, as he lightly brushed across her collarbones. He'd ask her to wear the pendant he'd bought for her, what seemed like ages ago. Just one more...he told himself, and kissed her forehead.

"Mm, Frederick," she sighed happily, and her hands curled around his neck. A gesture not meant for him, apparently. A painful pang that he was growing accustomed to shot through his heart once more as he held her tightly. He'd have to let her go in a few hours, and go back to the otherwise platonic relationship they shared.

Oh Naga, just _what_ was he doing?


	12. Lonely

**Sorry for the wait! Thank you once again for all of your support!**

* * *

Lonely.

Robin felt lonely, and didn't understand why.

Not much had changed. She was still sneaking out with Gaius almost every night, even as they changed locations. Sure enough, the band of assassins/ruffians/bandits had followed right behind them. They had just saved a village from a pair of twins brothers. The battle wasn't too difficult, save for some incompetent villagers that seemed to be determined to go towards the danger, rather than away from it. Robin, who was currently walking around camp, remembered throwing her hands up in battle (almost dropping her tome) and angrily questioning what twisted logic did the villagers have.

"Do they have a death wish?" she'd screeched as she'd impaled a rather lethal bolt of thunder into an enemy. She'd been working hard with the prince to cut a path to safety, until the healers could rescue the dolts from certain death.

"I don't know!" Chrom gritted out, taking out the man behind the fallen enemy. He winced as he pulled back out a bloody sword, and had to duck as a tome whizzed past his head. He whipped around to see Robin wearing a deer-in-the-headlights expression, when he saw the tome thrusted back against her.

"Please do not lose your weapons in the midst of battle, when we already have the Vaike ('peh', he'd added in disdain) to deal with."

"It's the Teach!" A loud cry informed them, right before they heard the swish of an axe and an unpleasant crunching sound that they'd grown more and more accustomed to each battle.

Frederick, whom she had noted stayed away from her in the recent battles had popped out of nowhere to save her behind. Before she could even thank him though, he'd disappeared once more, leaving a path of fallen enemies in his wake. She hadn't seen him in ages, and that was the only glimpse that he had afforded her. She felt a grin slide off of her face, not realizing when it had even gotten there.

Oh what did she care?

Unfortunately...

Robin sighed, remembering the memory of the last battle. She kicked rocks along her path as she walked around camp, lost in her thoughts. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case anymore. Sumia and Stahl had relayed to her all the heroic's of the great knight. He'd been desperate to search for a cure. He'd barked at anyone who made the slightest mistake, and even berated Chrom, for the state that she ended up in.

Robin shuddered and hugged herself at the memory. Even though she was an amnesiac, she was pretty sure that that had to have been the most painful thing she'd ever gone through. Her blood was simultaneously ice and fire. Her bones felt like they wanted to break, and was screaming for her will to fall under. Gods, she'd never wish that upon her worst enemies, let alone Chrom. Chrom, who she'd gladly take another dose of whatever substance caused her such misery. Her conviction may have been weak (after all, she had felt death almost steal her away) but she knew that she'd do it.

Chrom, her blue haired prince. It had been easy enough to quell thoughts about him. She knew Frederick had done his damnedest to separate the two, and practically thrust poor Sumia to him. The girl was sweet, she acknowledged that, and pleasant to spend time with, if a little odd. Not that Robin herself was normal by any means. She still had difficulty holding conversation sometimes. Her mind wandered off into odd directions during conversations, and she'd earned herself more than a few strange looks. Even so, she was starting to grow more and more familiar with everyone. Maribelle, who had nursed Robin to exhaustion, yet stood strong the next day without complaint.

Lissa, the once fragile princess who'd retrieved supplies for her in the dead of night. They were friendly on a superficial level, as both women were kindhearted, but her gratitude, and Lissa's worry pulled them together. Cordelia and Sumia would spend afternoons braiding flowers into Robin's hair. Robin would have tea time with Lissa and Maribelle. She'd snuck in to the kitchens for an extra snack with Stahl (all food was inspected with rigorous inspection, courtesy of Frederick with each new supply of food. He had actually gotten sick, but that was a case of rotten vegetables. Needless to say, the merchant that provided the crop had learned a new definition to the word punishment, and probably didn't deserve his comeuppance. )

When she wasn't training with Chrom, now that Frederick had abruptly stopped their sessions, she'd taken up to sparring with lon'qu. That was always a challenge, but her constant jabbing and fig throwing had gotten him to tolerate her, at the very least.

Then there were her nightly outings with Gaius. She had to admit that she was growing severely frustrated at their lack of progress. Gaius assured her, time and time again that he was getting closer to finding the lead that they'd need. He explained to her that he smelled a rat, and that was why...that was why she ended up being poisoned. He'd said grimly how Chrom's dumb luck kicked in to save his life, or else he'd be 'rotting' dead in his tent, and no one the wiser but them two.

The mental image was horrible. She started an assault on the thief, and was deaf to his apologies. "Don't! Say! That!" she punctuated each word with a hit, and let the thought dissolve. And speaking of Chrom...

Robin sighed as she found a nice patch of grass to sit on. She'd extricated herself out of her evening tea with Maribelle and some of the other girls, and wanted some time to herself. Not caring too much about the grass stains forming on her robes, she brought her knees up to her chest and sank her head between them. She made sure that her mouth was muffled enough and screamed.

What was this? She suppressed everything she felt for him, and he came crashing back into her life. It was easy to differentiate working time and personal time. Yet, he constantly appeared like magic, sans pretty pegasus knight. Lissa kicked him out of their tea times (Cordelia occasionally being a part of this always seemed to grow sullen whenever he left).

He'd even almost walked in on her again! Gods, as though the first time wasn't enough for her poor, (chaste) heart. What did he think of her? Maybe...was that incident the cause of something else? He certainly had a good look of every inch of her. The man was so tactless he didn't even bother to close his eyes. Part of her worried that he didn't think of her as a woman at all...but she was more worried about the aftereffects of if he, well, did recognize her femininity.

"Don't be stupid," she quietly admonished herself. Chrom wasn't the type of man to be...ruled by what was between his legs. She'd heard that Chrom had been equally distraught over her illness, to put it lightly. His face was ghost white, and as it had been described to her, it was as though he was trying to pry his lover from her deathbed, as though he were pleading to trade his life exchange for yours. He was diligent in protecting her, and was tender in his treatment. Knowing all this...how could she push him away?

It hurt at first. It hurt a lot. All too soon had she gotten used to spending every waking moment with the prince. She didn't think she was a bother, because he looked like he genuinely enjoyed her company. They'd have silly argument, get into strange situations...and oh, how she remembered each touch between them. They'd be an accident, but she still could feel the lightning that would shoot through her heart.

She'd wondered if things had changed when he'd...presented the necklace to her. Robin insisted that she couldn't possibly accept such a gift but there was no turning him down. She shivered at the memory of his touch, his fingers were ice cold from the cold air, and yet left something warm inside the woman.

She didn't wear it of course. He asked her, but she said she had her reasons. She told him that she'd save it for something special. Truth be told, she didn't know how to feel. Did he like her more than friends? Would it be right to wear a token of...whatever it was. His gratitude, his affection, his friendship. Her mind drifted to Sumia, and what she would think of it. She often wanted to ask either party of their relation, but good judgement always stopped her.

Things grew ever the confusing once they started to spend the night together. Oh Naga, but that sounded wrong. It was the only way that she'd managed to get any rest at all though because, since that fateful, fateful night...

Robin learned to hate sleeping. She couldn't exactly place what images had haunted her into a shivering, sweaty mess. But it lingered. Oh the poison was gone from the body, but new toxic waste filled her mind. She continuously wondered what was it, what was it that hurt in such a real manner? It would be painful to remember, yet painful to forget. She'd spend all day mired in negativity, and thus at night they'd return. Intense dread, fear, worry for her comrades, but for what reason? Who was she so afraid of?

She blushed as reminisced the first night. She had just been turned away by Frederick who'd treated her with a chill that was even colder than the first time they'd met. She'd wanted to cry but she...she had no right to say anything after all that. After he'd just about almost died for her. Chrom who had been her support simply sighed; he'd told her there was no point, and she had to admit that he was right. His lips faintly brushed her ear as he whispered for them to go back.

He told her that he'd be treating her in her tent; she wondered why he and not someone else, but figured they'd need the rest from all that. Robin told him that he needed it too, but he wouldn't hear it. Commander of the army or not, he said that she was his biggest priority at the moment. Those were words that she really shouldn't be hearing, but nevertheless her heart swelled.

Once he'd tucked her in bed, against her better judgement she clutched on to his arm and begged him to stay with her. He chuckled an said he would. He stroked her hair and told her that he was her nurse, after all. Her hold on him became more insisting and he realized just what she wanted. The moment her eyes met his, he was lost to her will. He slipped in to her bedroll and promised to protect her from everything.

"Thank you," she said softly and in a moment of weakness, kissed his cheek. Before she could do anything more foolish on impulse she quickly turned on to her side and away from him and let sleep claim her. She didn't hear the prince sigh and mumble about how bad this was for his poor heart.

She didn't get to sleep for too long. It began. The imagery was gone but every other sense was there. The next thing she knew was that she was crying and that there was something trapping her. She thrashed around, but the grip on her was only tightening. Gods, she felt like she suffocating, and was scared she was going to die. Her body moved of her own accord and only started to settle when Chrom's voice finally reaching her.

"You're okay," he said over and over again. "You're fine now, you're okay. You're safe." He had her in his arms, trying to calm her down before anyone came in to see just what the commotion was about. His heart reached out to her, and he never, never wanted to see her so desperately frightened again. "I've got you..."

She wouldn't stop sobbing, and somehow Chrom's instincts kicked into place. He got her water and all but forced her to drink it and it managed to settle her down. She flung her arms around the man and shuddered against him, as he kept rubbing her back and carding through her hair. "I don't want to sleep anymore. I don't want to go back to sleep. Please...please..." She kept begging him and begging him as she dug her nails into his skin. She couldn't relay the nightmare...she didn't know what she was afraid of herself. He told her okay, and gave her some medicine...that contained sleeping draught. She slept like a rock, nestled in his arms.

She found that she couldn't sleep alone. She'd creep to strange places at night and ask for the night shift to guard camp. When those were denied, she took to reading or doing chores at the midnight hour. Chrom had the inkling that she wasn't taking care of herself, and lo and behold, he was right. He'd dragged her kicking and screaming to bed and only managed to get her to sleep with the promise that he'd hold her once more. She felt immensely guilty...considering her feelings, whether or not they lingered...but she took it. She took his comfort and reveled in it. It didn't give her the satisfaction she wanted though. The ever niggling feeling she had...that she lost something-someone was consuming her when her nightmares weren't.

This continued every night, and the following evening would be no different. Robin sighed yet again and clenched the fabric of her pants.

"They say that sighing will let out all your happiness."

She whipped her head around with a grin, expecting to see the knight (because he'd say exactly that sort of thing) only to find Chrom. When her face fell he had a sad smile on his. Oh no, she didn't want him to think that she didn't like him! She pushed herself to forget about the (unexpected) disappointment and beamed at him. "Looks like you've found me." She moved to stand up and he helped her up without even giving her the chance to refuse. "Thanks," she mumbled, and detected a whiff of tea from him. "Tea party?"

"You know it," he grinned sheepishly. "Cordelia convinced the others to let me in. Course, there wasn't any point since you weren't there and I-ah..." The blue-haired prince blushed at the implication of his words and Robin followed suit. He looked away from her face as he tried to cover and his eyes lingered on his neck. Not for any nefarious reasons but...there was something he wished was there. "Robin..." his voice was a low fervent murmur and his fingers moved to brush across her collarbones. Her skin turned flush under his touch and the woman stood rigid. "I want to...see the necklace on you."

"Ch-Chrom..." Her feet were rooted to her ground and her arms were pinned to her sides. She didn't know what to do. She...she liked it but it didn't give her sparks...Should it have? No what was wrong with her, it's not like he meant in it that way-"Ah!" a little gasp escaped between her lips when he repeated the movement.

That took him aback. His eyes widened and he wanted to apologize...but perhaps that would make the situation awkward. "Ahem," His hand retreated from her skin to the back of his neck. "It's getting late...should we retire early today?"

"Yeah," Robin said, her voice thick. She wouldn't be able to get much work in this state anyways. His hand was on her back as they quietly went to her tent. It was strange how it had become so routine. Immorality aside, she wasn't even sure where this put them. Sleeping together like this...could one claim it to be an act of friendship? A man and a woman lying together every night...what would she think of someone she knew who did that?

Lovers. That's what she'd call them.

She slipped out of her robes and made him wait outside as she changed for the night. He'd been out of armor already and only needed to take off his shirt, as he'd been doing for several nights by then. She wouldn't admit it but that just made her feel more self-conscious. Chrom being Chrom never realized what was natural to him made her freak out.

His arms found their usual place around her waist once they settled in. This...this was definitely not normal either. It was the only way to keep her night terrors from paralyzing her and yet the nagging feeling that she was using him...What were they? She didn't feel the sparks that she'd, damn it she'd admit it to herself, with Frederick, the man that loathed her...and the man she despised once too, with all she had. She wasn't an ingrate. She couldn't, wouldn't, forget everything he'd done for her. From the blanket to the tea, to falling off a mountain...She had no idea what compelled him to do such things, but she was touched regardless. Even if he couldn't stand the sight of her...even if he couldn't bear the thought of her...she couldn't do that to them. She wanted to see him again. She wanted to be the target of his criticism. She wanted to train with him, she wanted to fight with him, she just wanted to...to talk to him. Why was it that when he thought she was up to no good, later that same night he gave everything to save her?

What would he think of this? Her lying with his Lord every night without giving anything in return. She could be a blemish on his reputation. He'd warned her to keep her heart locked up tight, and that's just what she did. why was it that the moment she managed to bottle her feelings away this was happening? It was no one's fault but her own...She wanted to scream the question in hopes of an echo answering her: what were she and Chrom?

As though he were seeking the answer too, his fingers crawled to her neckline once more. "I want to tie the clasp of your necklace again...Robin I...I want to..." He bit down on his lip and his words. He was going to say something he'd deeply regret later. And yet...He pulled her so she turned in his arms, and his face was in dangerously close proximity to hers. She could count his eyelashes...her eyes traced the contours of his jawline, sharp, but softer than Frederick's, and lingered on to his lips.

He saw just where she was looking and took it as a hint that she did not mean to give. His eyes were half-lidded and he leaned just enough so that his bottom lip brushed over hers. He paused to give her the time she needed, but his patience was struggling to stay within reach.

Gods, she wanted to, she so wanted to. Why...why shouldn't she? Frederick's face immediately popped up in her mind. Why was she thinking of him now of all times! She respected him but she-

He'd tell her off. He'd tell her to back away right that moment. He was a Prince, and she was nothing. Yes, that was right. No matter her feelings (merely a shadow of the torch she once held for Chrom, not that she'd realized it just yet) she couldn't do this. She couldn't take advantage of him any more than this. Her back was to his and her tongue was running over just where his lip touched hers. It couldn't be called a kiss...an accident if anything. The tingling fled the second her reason won out over her lust.

Chrom bowed out graciously and settled for burying his lips in her hair, right at the nape of her neck.

"I'm sorry for being greedy...Is this...is this okay?"

And he thought he was the greedy one? She wanted to laugh at their predicament.

"This is...this is okay." Her thoughts settled on Frederick once more as she lay in the arms of another man. He'd call her a liar and lecture her for others. "This is okay," she muttered, more to herself than him. "It's okay."

No. It wasn't.


	13. Thoughts of a Thief

**_Sorry for the break! Ah, another chapter will be coming up shortly (maybe within thirty minutes) after i post this! Double post to make up for the wait! Thank you for all your support, and especially those that have gone on my personal tumblr too :') It's a short, comic relief chapter :)_**

* * *

Gaius was in quite a state. Calm and collected on the outside, but his mind was in a turmoil. How could he have let something so simple slip through the cracks? What kinda spymaster was he?  
And worse, the victim was her. That spunky girl that he enjoyed harassing. He'd admit it, it wouldn't have mattered as much if it were anyone else. Would he have felt guilt? Of course. But the pain that accompanied seeing Robin in agony...that was on a level he didn't understand.

His worry...it seemed only like an echo compared to that uptight knight. The night is fresher than a fruit tart in his mind; the moment of panic when he saw Robin's frame as light and yielding as a feather...the ominous trail of blood that sent such a horrible, horrible feeling to his gut he had to suppress the urge to vomit. And the man had seen terrible, disgusting things in his life. Yet one pesky little tactician had his insides turning somersaults as he wracked his brain to find a cure, some way to help her. He knew he was putting himself in a risky position by revealing some...trade secrets, but he was willing to. The knight's suspicion would probably be on him again, but what the hell did it matter?

The knots inside of him was something unpleasant, and the reason he tried to avoid the whole making friends business.

There was no helping it. Amusement turned into attachment. Well hell, then it was his damn responsibility to take care of her, and the prince.

Like he didn't have enough problems already. That fruit tart was being particularly difficult to track down as it was.

He woke up early, hoping to catch Robin to give him a little training of his own. He'd needed to teach her how to blend in with the band of assassins cause...they were going to go into the fire. He...he regretted dragging her into this. Truth be told, he'd tell her to go sit in her tent whilst he did all the dirty work. If he told her that now though, she'd turn him into a pile of ashes and use it to disarm the enemy.

As he scoured the camp for the tiny tactician, he'd witness something very peculiar. Robin was scurrying into the men's bath tent, with something gripped in her hand.

_Don't tell me, she's walking in on someone again? Yeesh, and this girl calls me bad. _he shook his head, but wore a Cheshire's smirk. Curiosity killed the cat and all, but of course he quickly slinked over to the scene of the crime. He'd been secretly dying to know just what she was up to...The raging sexual tension between her and that knight sparked interesting questions...Chrom's sudden appearance so late in the game was a wildcard he didn't expect. Hell, he didn't know who to root for. Not that he cared, of course. He just wanted to know his odds before making any bets.

Frederick however, walked a dangerous path, in regards to the mushy stuff like feelings and whatnot. It quickly spread (of course it wasn't his fault...) how agitated the man was. Even if no birdies spoke, his march across camp was infamous. They said that he knocked a hundred men down just to see 'the love of his life.' He was curious to see just what Frederick would do if he heard any of these rumors. He'd arrange for him to 'overhear' a conversation, but he wasn't willing to risk the chance that he would be hanged.

Careful not to disturb a rather ugly shade of green grass, he slipped behind a few tents, and his eyebrows shot up as he heard tidbits of the conversation.

"Sure you're not going to be throwing anything else?"

"I said I'm sorry! Here let me just do this to make it up...it won't hurt, stay still will you?"

"A-ah!" What the fuck? Gaius thought and was quickly figuring out an escape route. No perhaps he was just misinterpreting things. What the hell was this though, with what context does this make sense? He did not sign up for this.

"Chrom, stop making so much noise!"

"I'm sorry...I was nervous, but it felt good actually." Okay he was not misunderstanding anything. Oh Gods, he really did not sign up for this. If he hadn't spent his pay he'd have made a break for it, bye bye army.

"Oh. Heh, I'm glad, but keep _still_."

Gaius wanted to barf into his hands. He was never suited for voyeurism...he'd just have to catch her at breakfast then. After getting a good serving of candy to forget that he'd ever come across this...Bubbles had more game than he thought.

* * *

"Ouch!" Robin hit Gaius with an unrestrained fury once he started to, ah, make references to the delightful conversation he so happened to overhear. "Be a little more delicate, will you?"

She gave him a hard, withering stare. "I'll be _delicate_ with you once, you, are, more, delicate, with, your, crap, assumptions!" She brought her fist down and punctuated each word with a painful blow.

"Well, what would you have thought!"

"I would have given you the benefit of the doubt," Robin said airily, and stuck her nose up in the air, giving a rather uncanny impression of Maribelle.

"Liar." He stepped back to rub his head...he was nursing some pretty bad bruises already, and this girl had to go on and give him more. She was had her arm pulled out, ready for another swing, but she sighed at the knowing look on his face.

"Okay, but I would have been more tactful about it."

"And there it is. Anyways, that's not why I sacrificed my innocence to-"

"Gaius."

"-to talk to you. We've got a big mission tonight. Can ya handle it?"

"What do you take me for?"

"Good, cause, you'll need to go undercover. Be all sneaky-like and whatnot." Like a _real_ thief. He'd wanted to make the joke that she was good at being one already, stealing hearts and all but he had the feeling that she would not take to that too kindly.

* * *

Gaius was a very strict teacher when he needed to be. He was all snark, and no praise, and could see where Tight Pants was coming from. This girl was hopeless. "No, no, no, you're too nice! Wow, that's a sentence I thought I'd never say."

She glared at him, and wiped off the sweat on her brow, formed mainly from frustration. She'd learned to skulk around, scale walls, climb trees and try not to fall off them. Then why oh why, was it hell to try and fit in with a band of assassins.

"You're a horrible pupil. Where's the sass you've got in reserves for me. If we could even tap into a quarter of what you use for Tight pants-"

"Tight pants?" Robin scoffed. "If you're referring to Frederick then...well he deserves it!"

"That's not what I see," Gaius sang, and poked her with his foot (he was trying to change her stance into a more threatening one, and thought that by irritating her it would eventually sink in). He was getting desperate at that point, although it was becoming noon. It was almost as difficult to keep everyone in camp away from her, asking for Robin this, Robin that. He insisted that she was fighting a horrible fever, and needed them to all leave her alone. Which backfired miserably, of course, but he escaped with her quickly before the Calvary came for the girl.

"What do you see, oh wise one?"

"Well, since you've asked, I'll tell ya. I see a little puppy in love, barking at someone who won't even give her a glance."

Robin growled and swiped for him, and he nimbly dodged her attack to ruffle her hair. "Atta girl. Keep that up, and we won't be found out so easily tonight."

Though it was a jest, he was praying. Funny how often he had to do that, as of late.


	14. Touch

**_Ta da! Another update! A little, ahem, action here so now I'm pumped up. Thank you for all your reviews, favs, subscribes, everything!_**

* * *

Alright, this was it. Robin wished that he could have given her more of an advance notice, but considering her condition, she supposed she couldn't blame him. She knew that he'd leave her behind if she'd give him the chance. Gods, why was she such a mess lately? At least it didn't reflect in her work...most of the time. She didn't even notice how jittery she was. The restless nights, her constant worries...it was starting to take a toll on her health.

She finally caught on when...when he pointed it out. She'd been idly washing dishes when her hand trembled, out of nowhere, and she dropped everything. The crash had alerted Frederick, coincidentally passing by as far as she was concerned, and immediately darted into the tent. He sighed after assessing the situation, and appeared as though he considered leaving her to it, he decided against it.

He had swiftly cleaned up the mess before he even gave her the chance to react; in a flurry he had moved to take her spot. They both had flinched when he gently pushed her away, and Robin clutched her heart. It had been racing embarrassingly, even more so than the first time Chrom smiled at her. Goodness if she was looking for comparisons, then she was digging herself a deeper and deeper grave.

"I can do it," she had said quietly, and tried to pick up a bowl. He'd swatted her hand away, and her heart sank. "Let me," the girl had pressed, and tried again, and was met with the same reaction. She had attempted it once more, only for him to ensnare her wrist in a vice grip.

"Rest up," he said, still not looking at her. He'd found a dirty washcloth and started vigorously scrubbing at an already clean dish. She couldn't see him, but she could perfectly picture the intense frown on his face. He hadn't bothered to roll back his sleeves, and his pristine shirt was slowly getting soaked with dirty water.

"Why won't you look at me?"

"Rest up, I said. We can't afford our tactician to be dropping randomly. You could afford to be more careful no?"

"I-"

"Quit sauntering around with that thief, won't you? I'm sure you can reschedule your frivolities for-" The tempo of his words were gaining speed, as if he just wished for this conversation to be over. There had been something strange in his words, mean as ever, that alerted her that something, something was amiss. Oh how she longed to get to the bottom of whatever he was thinking...What she would do to delve into his heart?

"_Frederick_ _please_!" Robin's cry finally had gotten his attention, and his eyes were locked with hers. Gods, why did she feel so damn happy? Against all her will, a smile slipped on to her face, and she felt like crying. "Frederick..." As she repeated his name, he had closed his eyes, as though in pain. She then noticed the dark bags in his pallid skin. His normally chiseled jawline made him look ill, thanks to his sunken cheeks. A man so bright...why did he seem as sick as she felt?

It must have been the injury! The good for nothing man went through all that trouble to save her miserable existence. What was she in the grand scheme of things? And he was silently suffering...she could tell he wasn't treating himself, other than the crude self-treatment she'd witnessed that night. Gods, she hoped he wasn't sick with something. At another time, she would have reprimanded herself; what do you care? Perhaps basic humanity would have fought back, but the anxiety welling up inside...she had begun to grow to the idea that maybe she cared for him? As a friend, she would be quick to add. Since they spent so much time together and so forth. He may not see her the same, but that certainly was no reason for her to stay away.

And yet...and yet she _ached_ to touch him.

Rationality screamed at her to stop, but she was damned if she'd listen. Her dainty, yet calloused fingers were on his cheek before she could stop. She could hear him take a sharp intake of breath, but she didn't stop. Another hand tousled his slightly unkempt hair (she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach). Her traced down his nose, down his cheekbones, and just faintly over his soft, soft lips...Gods he was a good distance from her but she had never wanted to kiss someone so badly. Friendship...screw friendship. Even in his exhausted appearance, even with his weary countenance...he was beautiful to her. There was no more denying it. She couldn't stop thinking about him before, and since he'd begun to leave her alone...since she'd grown more than just a grudging respect to him...the turmoil in her heart begged for resolution. Though the struggle was yet to die she knew this much; she felt something for him.

Frederick's eyes remained shut tight, and for one bizarre moment, she'd wondered if he'd fallen asleep. He looked like he needed it in any case. His mouth parted open underneath her pointer, center, and ring finger and exhaled a shaky breath through. Robin was...entranced. The hand in his hair travelled down his face to cup his cheek, as one would with a lover whom they were about to kiss...

And the fairytale had ended.

"Woman!" Frederick had winced, stepped away and scolded her. "Don't overstep your bounds!" He'd averted his face as though he were struck, as though he had been caught staring at something shameful. "Leave now, before I do something that I really do not wish to do!"

"Sorry," she'd mumbled, biting her lip. It was no one's fault but her own, and she was grateful that she'd indulged her..whatever it was for so long. Even so tears sprang to her eyes, but sheer willpower kept them from spilling over. "I'm sorry," she repeated, turning towards the exit of the tent. "But please, get some rest."

He has said nothing, and she walked away, deliberately slow and kept looking back to see if she could catch him stealing a glance. He'd only looked at her once, right as she was at the tent flap.

"I've told you to search for a friend...You mustn't mistake me for one. We are not friends, nor do I wish to forge any sort of relation with you. Not now, not ever."

"Got it," she'd said, her voice thick with obvious tears. It looked like her willpower had melted away after all. "Thanks."

Robin had been transfixed on the memory since it happened earlier that evening. Not to mention the incident with Chrom earlier that morning...Her mind...her body...she just couldn't take it anymore. She was much too stressed with such...such petty things! Why did one man, no two, now that Chrom had finally decided to reciprocate her practically extinguished feelings, have to cause her so much trouble! She was beginning to find Gaius more preferable to those two!

The tactician stomped through the grass, trying to bat away any more of her unnecessary thoughts. But they kept attacking her, like arrows to the skin and she fell forward. Her knees sunk to the grass, covered in only thin black breeches Gaius had arranged for her to wear. A little different from her spying clothes, but it didn't matter; all she wanted was to huddle up in her cloak and scream. Her stomach was piercing with pain, and for a horrible moment she wondered if she had fallen prey to the poison again. her breathing was shallow, and she felt lightheaded, but she recognized her pain wasn't' something so dire...it was caused only by herself. She gave up and rolled on to the grass, not caring as the crickets chirped in her ear, not caring about anything at all.

She didn't know when, but the thief had found her rather quickly, after scouring the grounds for her mess of blonde hair.

"Take it easy tonight, Bubbles," she remembered him saying. She hadn't lost consciousness, but she was very, very tired. "I'll catch you up. Dontcha worry about me."

She mumbled something about jeopardizing the mission, but he confidently assured her that it was better this way, and that it would be better to appear alone at first. With a light kiss on her forehead, he tucked her in bed, wishing he didn't have to leave her alone. She made a good match with the knight, he mused, as he quickly set off to make for lost time. Both were incredibly stubborn and reckless when it came to themselves, this much he was certain.

Robin...all she remembered was that Chrom didn't come that night. The feeling of Frederick's lips under her fingers though...it kept her company enough.


	15. A Little Fun

_**Another update! Next chapter will finally be from Freddy Bear's POV! Thank you for reading ^_^**_

* * *

Robin woke up to quite the cacophony. The first thing the blonde tactician saw when she opened her eyes were Maribelle and Lissa glaring down with her, with a rather hesitant Sumia standing behind them.

So naturally, her first reaction was to scream.

"Is the racket truly necessary, my dear?" Maribelle gritted out between clenched teeth, and looked like she was restraining the urge to thwack Robin with something. Robin could have sworn she saw Maribelle's hands twitch. She was more occupied with the hand pressed over her mouth, courtesy of Lissa.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Robin squirmed around, her senses not so sharp yet to realize that she could simply pry off the smaller blonde's hands off of her.

"Relax, darling we're not going to kidnap you," Maribelle continued, inspecting her nails and then turning to look around the tent. She clucked her tongue and added, "We took the liberty to clean up the mess you call you tent. Well, I suppose Sumia and I did, while Lissa took the liberty to snoop through your possessions." Lissa grinned sheepishly and Robin wanted to scream again.

"Mm?" Robin's eyes bugged out, the sands of sleep slipping away from them as her senses finally came back to her. She threw Lissa's hands off of her and rounded on the princess. "You did what?"

"Volume dear," Maribelle reprimanded but Robin took no notice.

"Aww c'mon, it's not like i found anything good. Although..." Lissa looked at Sumia, who fidgeted a little guilt.

"Um, I saw something that looked like it was falling out of your bag and I was wondering..." Sumia walked over to your rucksack, and slid out her necklace. The gift from Chrom...dear gods, but she really really did not need to be reminded of chrom. Because well, you see, something had happened the morning before.

Robin had decided that she needed to get her mind off of things with some good old-fashioned hard work. She'd been shown the ropes of weapons management by a name she would most certainly not think of, and thought it'd be good to kill two birds with one stone.

How absentminded was she that she would be the one to repeat Chrom's mistake?  
Apparently enough so that she would run face first into Chrom and all his, uh, naked glory. A small bit of her thought that the Chrom Wants You posters had been quite understated, but the majority of Robin's mind was consumed with pure terror.

"Robin! Don't-stop screaming!" The man before panicked and gripped her shoulders to get her to stop shrieking, which was a horrible move on his part.

"Don't-Don't touch me!" She was flailing her arms around and unfortunately, her gaze meandered down and she nearly had a conniption. Okay, maybe she couldn't blame Chrom for taking a good eyeful of her chest, but her and the prince clearly had two different reactions because the volume of her voice was only increasing.

"What is that thing?!"

"What thing?" Chrom asked incredulously, letting Robin go as she squirmed in his grip. She jumped backwards and hopped from one foot to the other pointing at his...man parts.

"That thing why is it so dangly get it away from meeee!" she was rambling on and on, all in one breath, and Chrom stood rather dumbfounded. This was...yeah this was the most bizarre situation the man had ever been. She walked in on him and had the audacity to start screaming at him.

Of course, it could only get worse. Robin had decided that the proper course of action would be to take various objects and start flinging them at him, because of course that would make the twitchy, dangly thing go away. A loofah flopped by Chrom's feet and panic started to set in as Robin started to find heavier, and more dangerous objects.

"KYAAAAAAAA! Don't you have enough shame to cover yourself with a towel! Especially talking to a lady! And you fancy yourself a prince!"

"Robin-stop-argh! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT WALKED IN ON ME."

It was when the soap dish she assaulted him with crashed on the floor that the rattled tactician finally came to her senses.

She didn't notice the watchful eyes on her as she left to retrieve medical supplies and snuck back into the tent.

"I'm so sorry, Chrom," she was saying over and over. Chrom, seated on a crate, had changed into a pair of trousers, and had his towel draped around his neck, with droplets of water still rolling down his skin. Don't look, she chided herself. It's not like she's not seen a shirtless man before. Hell, Vaike always paraded around in that ridiculous getup of his.

"Sure you're not going to throw anything else?" The man regarded her warily and flinched as she moved closer.

Robin bowed her head in shame for a moment before snapping at him, her usual temper flaring up to cover her embarrassment. "I said I'm sorry! Here let me just do this to make it up...it won't hurt, stay still will you?"She took out a tube of ointment that would do the trick and carefully started applying it on his ear.

"A-ah!" Chrom cried out and fidgeted on his seat. He let out a shaky, if innocent moan that tempted Robin to hit him again.

"Chrom, stop making so much noise!" She waved her head threateningly and he squeezed his eyes shut in reaction. Robin felt a little guilty and used her free, ointment free hand to pat his head. Realizing that it wasn't painful, Chrom looked at her happily, and she noted his reaction her petting was not unlike to that of a cat.

"I'm sorry...I was nervous, but it felt good actually." He still wrinkled his nose from the cold cream, but she sighed in relief that his ear wasn't an angry red, thanks to her undue panic.

"Oh. Heh, I'm glad, but keep _still_."

She quietly resumed her messy work, never one to be a healer, and there was a silence between them. Just as she patched him up nicely enough and was ready to leave, he had to go and confuse her again.

"We're even closer now than ever, right?"

They slept together, worked together, and have even seen each other in the nude. Why didn't she accept him as a lover at this point?

"Yeah," she smiled, and ran away before anything happened that she'd regret later.

Robin pressed a finger to her throbbing temple. Gods after that episode last night, the last thing she'd needed was to dwell on this any longer. Yet as she came to the real world, she could see Sumia dangling a necklace in front of her.

"It's so pretty," Lissa squealed. "You need to wear it!"

"I agree," Sumia added, and before you could stop either, the two girls each took an end and fastened it securely. It was beautiful, just as wonderful it had looked to her when she first saw it at a stall...and the night Chrom put it on her. Dear Naga, that felt like another time. She was practically swooning when his fingers danced across her skin and she'd dearly wished the necklace to symbolize that she was his. Of course that was wishful thinking...

But now? Now she felt that someone had chained her to iron, and she was sinking into a pit she couldn't get out of. The girls in her tent didn't leave her to her thoughts though, they insisted that they'd treat her for the day and give her a well deserved vacation.

"But first, we must dress you up for a proper girls day out," Maribelle clapped her hands, and as though rehearsed (it probably was) Sumia picked up a bag from wherein she plucked out a dress, as though by magic, and Lissa took another little pouch with what seemed like torture devices.

Well, they weren't exactly tools of torture but...she wasn't too far off.

"Why is this necessary?" Robin grumbled because she felt it was an obligation to do so but...she rather liked how they did her up. The convinced her to take her hair out of her pigtails, and it was a nice change to let her hair down. Maribelle put makeup on her with a light touch, and her and Lissa gifted her a white sundress.

"I believe the words you're looking for are 'thank you,'" Maribelle said and Lissa nodded. The latter had her arm hooked around Robin's and the foursome were strolling through the grounds to Maribelle's tent, which she'd specifically had set up for their plans.

"You're working so hard that even _Gaius_ noticed. We heard that you passed out," Lissa said disapprovingly, and Robin gave her a sheepish grin, while reflecting on that even gaius part. Gods, she needed to thank him with candy or something. She'd have to remember the next time they were closer to a town.

"So we won't let you do any work!" Sumia said, hands on her hips in determination. She winced when she realized the flower crown she was weaving for you crumpled in her grip and set quick to fixing it again.

Spending time with these girls...this was what friendship was like? Someone who looked out for her, someone who spent time with her, admonished her and helped her right her wrongs... Was that what she had with Chrom? Gaius? F...

Him?

The cool breeze playing in her hair told her to not think of that, and she listened to it. No thinking of that. She'd ignore the weight around her neck and in her chest and just...relax.

It was becoming little hard to relax around early evening when they started talking about that subject. Guys. Romance. Crushes.

Cordelia, Miriel, Sully, and Panne had popped in and out of their little fun day together, with only Cordelia acquiescing to being made up. Robin's hair was completely adorned in flowers, yet she was picking the petals apart, one by one, when they'd gotten to talking about...the bedroom.

She was learning things that she'd never even thought about knowing, and wondered just where the other girls picked up the information. Cordelia had a whole vault of knowledge from her time with the pegasus knights. Sumia had picked up a few novels with...surprising events. Maribelle and Panne seemed to know everything. Lissa was learning, and looked like she was about to start taking notes. Miriel had plenty to offer from...research. Even Sully was rapt by the discussion, and had a few things she'd heard from her sisters-in-law.

Robin...had absolutely nothing to offer. She felt...rushes of desire from time to time when the situation called (or didn't) for it...like her almost kiss...or just...just touching Frederick. But other than that she was hopeless. Truth be told, she wished she could pen it all down on a spare piece of parchment, but with how luck favored her, someone would find the scrap and make a laughingstock of her within the hour. In any case it was interesting to hear all this from women who had virtually no experience...

"So...who do you like Robin?"

In the middle of Robin's musings the question hit her like a bolt of Thoron.

"Eh? Wh-what do you mean? I like everyone..." Robin worried the hem of her dress and heard Lissa scoff.

"You know what we meant. C'mon, spill. I know Frederick's got eyes for you," Lissa sang and the tactician felt her heart stop in her chest.

"Th-that...I-I..." It was a falsehood, and yet Robin couldn't bear to deny even that. What could she say? No one? With a reaction like hers they'd discover she was lying in an instant. She should have been paying more attention and picked the most handsome one. Okay, scratch that, she'd just pick the popular one. That would be Chrom, if all the titters she'd hear around camp were true. Not that Cordelia not Sumia would look too kindly upon that. She wondered if their friendship was strained, what with them vying, or at least, yearning for the same man. What did love to do a friendship? The girls seemed strong in their relationship, and to her looked as close as ever.

"Hellooooo," Lissa waved her hand in front of Robin's face. "Earth to Robin!"

"Maybe we should just leave her alone," Sumia suggested. "If she doesn't want to tell." Robin would later have to make it up to the lovely pegasus knight.

"It's all in good fun," Maribelle insisted, and turned to Robin with a sly look. "Now tell us."

All eyes were on her, from Miriel's inquisitive glance, sizing her up to Sully's feigned disinterest. Robin was calculating if she would be able to escape if she made a break for it.

Luckily she was saved by the appearance of the ginger who was responsible for her entirely (or almost entirely) pleasant day off.

"Robin! There you are! Sorry to cut in but, we need to get a move on."

"And where are ya heading? Thought Robin's gonna have the day off?" Sully jutted her lip to the side and leaned backwards, crossing her arms in disapproval.

"Yeah well, I want her to myself right now. Ain't that right Bubbles?"

"Right," Robin responded without hesitation, when Gaius made _that _face, that told her that he was being serious. She however, almost denied her easy acceptance with the arrival of his next sentence.

"She's going on a date with me, I won't wear her out...too much," Gaius said with such an infuriating wink that she wanted to murder him on the spot. She settled with a long, drawn out sigh and assuring the other girls, now in merry spirits, that that was not what was going to happen. Dodging any more invasive questions, she adjusted her dress and quickly made her exit, and Gaius shamelessly wrapped an arm around her waist. Just for kicks, the thief kissed her on the cheek and it took another bout of patience to keep silent.

"You look pretty," Gaius said, finally having the good sense to blush. What, was it more taxing to say something nice, than to tease her? Probably so. She'd have to remember it for blackmail purposes. "It'll make changing your persona a little easier. Got a bag of clothes in my tent, you change, and we'll head on out to the field. Sorry for springing this on ya, but the group wanted me to bring you tonight. 'Fraid we haven't got much time." Robin nodded, as she'd figured something like this was going to happen. At least she was in much better spirits, and felt well-rested, thanks to him.

"Gaius..." she started, then sighed. "Thank you. For taking care of me so much. I never did get the chance to say anything."

He held a palm up, and was blushing again. "Consider it repayment. A-anyways...Ahem, if you really wanted to thank me...you know what I want..." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and gave her a crooked smile.

She'd decided to take the bait, for once. Just as they'd reached his tent, she bent up on her tiptoes to peck his cheek in the chastest of kisses and then made off to change into her spy clothing.

He stood dumbfounded for a while...he sensed a pair of eyes on him but...he found that he didn't care.


	16. Training of the Mind

_**Thank you for bearing with me~**_

* * *

Perhaps he'd been a little too harsh on her.

The moment he'd realized that something had changed in him, in regards to her, well naturally he felt frightened. He didn't enjoy things that were strange or new to him, and perhaps that was why he regarded her so warily. She'd proven her mettle time and time again. Each time he'd decided to put a little more faith in her, she'd do something suspicious.

She'd wander off all the time, at bizarre times, in completely different attire. She'd become fast friends with the thief, whom he noticed had the tendency of hanging on to her. What was with that name he'd given her, anyway? Bubbles? What reason did he have to come up with that anyways?

Speaking of which...said thief was really not on his good side. Frederick had...had come around and decided that maybe he owed her an apology. He'd heard that she'd succumbed to fatigue and was nurtured by her friends and that ginger man. He couldn't help but shake of the nagging feeling that he had a part to play in it. He was nothing but brusque, and rude to her. And yet, he'd allowed himself to enjoy her disgustingly gentle touches. Why did he do that?

Frederick had returned to his tent when he saw a certain scene that made him rather uncomfortable. He was sitting crosslegged on his bedroll, organizing his socks over and over, by color and make. They were all white, brown, and black. There was only so much he could do, and yet it kept his hands busy. Not busy enough.

He sunk his head into his hands in embarrassment and...he couldn't even name the feeling. What was it, lust? Happiness? A word that was too despicable to utter? He'd ashamedly let the woman touch him as she pleased, and reveled in the feeling. He felt unbearably warm inside, as though her fingers were spread across his lips that very instant. He'd wanted to snatch her up and kiss her right there and then, but what was left of his rational, tired self stopped him in his tracks when he could sense that perhaps she wanted the same.

He'd doubt it normally, but he noticed her gestures towards taking care of him. He still had an ache from when he fell, and had taken to taking care of it himself. He needed not to burden others, and was fine. It was but a scrape. Yet he found steady supplies of bandages and vulneraries left on his pillow each evening when he retired to his tent. He'd duly return the vulneraries, yet he'd wrap the bandages around his leg with a small smile on his face, picturing her with her usual pout, forcibly taking care of him.

What was this?

Was he really fantasizing?

Yes, a snide voice said in his voice. Memories were his friend more and more often these days. He'd recall every touch they shared, any time her body was pressed against his. He remembered them toppled over together, he remembered leaning over, against her. Once in fury, he wondered if those instances held something heavier. An increasingly familiar sensation was bothering him in his rather, er, private area and he groaned. He wanted her. There was no denying it any longer. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to touch her hair. And he was going to hell for this, but his thoughts strayed to a less chaste path. He wanted their limbs tangled together with their sweat sticking to the other's body. He wanted to feel her barely able to breathe, and wanted to fill her up with every frustration, every bit of desire he has been struggling with. He'd been fighting off these sinful thoughts but...but jealousy was a dangerous thing.

Jealous? Him?

Don't deny it, that voice continued in his head. Thinking of defiling the woman like this, with your, urges. You're wrought with jealousy, and have become a slave to it. You and your lord are on tenterhooks, you're putting the thief through unnecessarily grueling work, and you're downright ignoring that poor woman.

Well, Frederick argued with himself, a thought that made him wonder if he was truly going down the path of a lunatic, What am I doing wrong? I'm saving milord from someone he cannot wish to pursue without negative repercussions. The thief needs to work anyway, and be a contributing shepherd, instead of...

Instead of going into a tent with Robin and doing Naga knows what. He'd seen her kiss the man and slip into his tent, and he took that as a cue to leave. He'd gone out with good intentions, only to return to his bed in frustration. One day she's drooling for the prince, another she's touching him, and now she kisses another. Goodness, for such a typically oblivious girl she sure had her admirers. Considering the state that he was in, he could hardly blame the others, although he had spent the last several hours picturing his fingers wrapped around the ginger's head, wringing it gleefully...

Perhaps he should get some air.

After putting his socks away, wrinkled from being organized so much, he stepped out and sighed. The evening air was a little chilly without his armor, but it was good for his head. Frederick walked aimlessly, for once, silently crunching grass covered in the beginnings of morning dew. His feet found it's way to a certain tactician's tent. The flap was fluttering in the breeze and he clucked his tongue. How irresponsible of her, to not even secure it. What if someone were to just stroll in, take off with everything? Or someone could sneak in whilst she were sleeping, without even having to make a sound, then what would they do?

Frederick was fiddling with the entrance when he heard a soft, weary voice question him.

"What are you doing with my tent?" It was Robin, of course. She was red from doing goodness knows what, and dressed in a light black outfit more suited for sneaking around than anything else. She had a satchel over her shoulder, and could see hints of her robe sticking out. Around her neck was a familiar looking ribbon, and he could see a purple stone resting in the dip of her cleavage. She looked different, in her black tank top, equally dark and tight fitted shorts, He certainly had gotten used to her in her baggy robe, and it wasn't as though he needed any more incentive to stay up at night, cursing himself out. Naga knows he's been staying away from her, but...

"I'm fixing it, as you clearly are too busy screwing around with that thief."

"I-How do you know what I'm up to, hm?" Robin gripped her left shoulder with her right hand and looked down at her feet, still in it's usual boots, uncomfortably. "You don't care at all. Why are you so involved in what I do or not do, and whom I do it with?"

"Because you are a liability." His habit of mixing a sharp tongue with the cruelest words he can find is as active as ever, even though he'd planned to offer a truce just earlier on. Frederick felt a twinge of guilt when he saw her face fall, only to be contorted in irritation, an expression he was beginning to feel was only reserved for the knight.

"Funny, how above and beyond you're going for a liability like me." She spat out the words, getting visibly heated as her limbs tensed up, her fingers curled into a fist and ready to take him head on.

"You don't understan-"

"Who's there?" Just then they heard a patrol guard meander off course towards them, probably drawn by their argument.

"Go inside," Frederick said, and grabbed her wrist, and used his free hand to make a shushing motion, and yanked her inside her own tent.

"You are infuriatingly rude!"

"I believed that it would be more prudent to continue this conversation away from the night guard. Must you make a mountain out of a molehill out of each and every matter?"

"Conversation?" Robin scoffed. Well, he couldn't blame her, it was more of an escalating argument if one were to split hairs. "This...this is my tent, you can't just pull me inside!" She wrenched her wrist out of his grasp and even stomped her feet for good measure.

"Forgive me, milady. I will allow you to scream at me in the middle of the night and perturb everyone's slumber, from now on. Surely it will be a good training exercise for everyone."

"Ugh, I...What is it? Just...what is it? You'll ignore me for weeks on end, but you'll be fixing my tent, and I don't even know why you were here in the first place. You'll say I'm not your friend and yet you've treated me as one-"

"I've never-"

"I heard about what you did, you know. If you thought it was going to be a secret, then I am sorry to have disappoint you. Why did you do it anyway?" That was...that was very sudden. Why did he do it? He absolutely had to, that's why. And yet he tormented himself over the answer to the point he turned her away, time and time again.

"I-That is, you are a valuable asset to the army, and to find a new tactician-" The same old, practiced answers were beginning to taste stale on his tongue, and he was losing ground quickly.

"Would be troublesome? Oh please, I don't claim to have a great mind. I'm dispensable, and the way you loathe me, you should have just left me to die and solve all your problems in one fell swoop!" Robin was gesturing so wildly, she'd almost hit him in the face. "You'd not even had to havelifted a finger! You should have let me die, and i would have had less of a headache and-oh!" She was horrible. Talking about her death so casually, as though he'd allow such a thing as lieutenant of Ylissean army, for their tactician to fall to something so trivial. He had his hand around her wrist once more, and pulled her to him. Frederick cupped her chin with the other, and his face was dangerously close and looking down at her, just as it had many times before. He could see her eyebrows furrowing and unfurrowing, as though struggling to maintain an angry appearance.

"You. You can't just say anything and expect me to stand here and listen. Is that any way to say thank you?"

"Thank you for what! Inconveniencing me by saving me? Please let me die next time if this is-"

Frederick found that he could stand this no more, the thought of her being gone was unbearable...So what bearing did that have to the fact that his lips were upon hers? The muffled gasp into his mouth was absolutely satisfying, and he felt as though someone had hit him with a large dose of aphrodisiac. "You stubborn...stubborn...woman..." He muttered these words as their lips slid over each other's in messy, hungry kisses.

"I h-hate you so much," she murmured back, her arms desperately wrapping around his neck as she searched for purchase, and soon he felt small fingers tugging at his hair. He could feel her wobble against him, as though her knees were growing weak. It felt rather fantastic to know that he had this effect on her. His hands snaked to her waist, and kept her steady. Frederick tasted the faint flavor of butterscotch as his tongue slid across her teeth and he growled, knowing the source of it. His hands took the liberty of roaming her body, fueled by his swell of jealousy. Robin was just as eager and pressed up her body against him, biting his lip in little nips that were teasing him more than he'd care to admit. It was when his hand had cupped her breast, and she let out the faintest little moan, that he knew he had to come to his senses. He tore his lips away from hers with much reluctance and looked back at her.

Her face was flush, her lips swollen, and her hair was already in a mess. Her eyes were wide open, as she'd begun to realize what had just transpired. He shouldn't have done this. What was he thinking? A man, kissing a woman late at night in her own tent. He needed to take care of her reputation. He had to control these...these whatever, whatever feelings of lust had borne of their time together.

"Frederick?" She tried to touch his cheek gently, but he stepped away. He let go of her completely and stumbled backwards, horrified at what he had done in a fit of senselessness. He didn't even have room to think about the thud in his chest from the way she spoke his name.

"No...Stay away from me. I'm...I'm sorry," he choked out the last two words, words that were just as shocking to say as it looked like it was shocking for her to hear. And with that, the man departed, leaving her the familiar sight of his back, escaping from her yet again.


	17. Mind over Matter?

**Thank you for your continuous support, and all your kind messages on here and tumblr :) You can check out more fanfiction at imaginefeawakening, and I have a Gaius smut series under the pen name whitearrow on archive of our own**

* * *

It was the middle of the night, but she was going to do it. She was going to scream. She was going to scream, and everything would flood into her tent, armed and ready, and she wouldn't care.

Or so she thought as she settled for screaming into a pillow. She did a lot of flailing though. She buried her screams in her pillow, and thrashed around her limbs in frustration.

What was that?

_What was that?! _

He kissed her! He. _Kissed_. Her.

And she kissed him back! She _kissed_ him back, and dear Naga, she was ready to do so much more than just that. She was ready to throw away her virginity that moment, and the worst part is that if he came back right then, she'd give it all to him. She was trying to forget about him, but with the way things were going, it was going to be impossible. What was his logic? He just kissed her, he was always acting like she was filth on his shoe, yet he fucking _kissed_ her! What on earth was going through his mind? Was it some new method to annoy her? Did he pick up that she was attracted to him?

He wouldn't even look at her and they kissed! How? _How_? Was the world going to end the next morning? Should she get her affairs settled?

She screamed again.

She could feel it, she could feel how his mouth moved against hers. She remembered the warmth of his lips, how it was a little chafed, and yet how it tasted good when she ran her tongue over it, the hint of mint pleasantly surprising her. He kissed her like he'd been holding it back for years, and yet he'd been so cold to her not so long ago. He'd even touched her chest! Goodness, the man moved fast. And she! She did something so embarrassing as to moan. A reaction to _pleasure, sexual pleasure_. Why? _Whyyyyyy_?

She would not be getting much sleep, would she?

And she was right. The next day she was practically a Risen. The human mind was a beautiful thing, she had found. She had reprieve from her terrifying nightmares only because whatever dreams she did have were of a more...adult type. That had her wake up in a sweat and desiring a nice cold glass of water. Or perhaps a tub of it.

Well, that wouldn't do because the moment she'd woken up, Lissa had marched in her tent alerting her for battle.

They had a minor skirmish to settle, and at least with the endless hours of training Frederick had put into her, she was able to fend off the ruffians without too much trouble. She even saved the knight from a terrible blunder; he looked like he was spacing out, even as he chopped down enemies with ease, and she had to push him out of the way (easier said than done) to avoid an arrow in the shoulder.

He flinched more at the fact that they touched than the fact that he'd almost been wounded. He muttered a quick thanks and resumed to killing people...further away.

What a stupid man, she'd thought. But it was a little satisfying to see that he was affected by the ordeal as much as she was. Ordeal. Being kissed was an ordeal and wait a minute...

Was that her first kiss? Oh dear Naga, her first kiss wasn't even-

"Robin watch out!" Chrom's voice crashed into her thoughts loud and clear and he neatly cut down a barbarian that had his sights set on her. "What's got your head in the clouds today?" he joked, as he slid Falchion out of the dead body before them. When she doesn't smile right away, his own grin falters and he moves in closer to whisper, "Not getting enough sleep? I couldn't find you so I haven't-"

"Thank you Chrom," she said quickly, and turned away. He was getting better and better at reading her, as one would expect of a close friend. "I-I think I'm fine. Just got carried away taking a walk...that's all."

"That's quite some walk," Chrom said with a great deal of skepticism, and Robin fidgeted with her necklace. The two of them were looking around to see if the coast was clear, and from the sounds of retreat and hollering, they could surmise that they'd won the battle. She sighed in relief, always happy to see her comrades spared from casualties, and she looked back at the prince, who was regarding her with a strange expression.

"Chrom, shouldn't you be checking out our surroundings, instead of me?"

"They're clear," he murmured, and he took off his glove so he could stroke the gem on her neck. "You're wearing it...You're wearing the necklace." Where his fingers once touched skin touched smooth fabric and a cold stone instead.

"Indeed I am," Robin said, and clutched her arm with her shoulder, her nervous habit acting up again. And perhaps twinges of guilt. She wasn't a fool. She could notice how much this meant to him, and yet here she was, going behind his back and kissing his right hand man.

She stepped back in quick jerky movements, and Chrom retracted his hand rather embarrassedly. "Ah, sorry."

"It's okay," she said, and looked down at her feet. How long would this pattern continue? She had to let him know that...that it wouldn't happen, it couldn't happen. Not when she couldn't give him her heart. Not when her mind was consumed of thoughts of...him.

Speaking of, she was scanning the grounds for the knight on his steed, but saw nothing. Her heart rate quickened in panic. What if something had happened to him? What if he had suffered a blow? It would be her fault and she could do nothing about it? And then there was that leg injury? Was he taking care of it?

She was breaking into a sprint and before she could help herself, she was calling his name. Her ears were deaf to Chrom's cries for her to wait; she only needed to find him, to know that he was safe.

"Frederick! Frederick, are you alright?" By now he should be making some sort of snarky response, unless he's determined to subject her to the cold shoulder yet again. "Frederiiiiiii-Oof!" She crashed headlong into Sumia, who she sent flying into the ground. Oops.

"Sorry, Sumia!" Robin quickly proffered a hand to the pegasus knight, who took it with a weary smile.

"Thank you, Robin." Sumia stumbled a few times but with the help of Cordelia (who'd come to check out the commotion) they got her righted eventually.

"We don't need to send any more to the healers' tent, Robin," Cordelia teased the tactician, and worried over her friend. "Sumia falls on her own enough, as it is. But I hear you were looking for the Lieutenant?"

"Y-yeah," Robin said, and scratched her cheek awkwardly. "How did you know?"

"Dear, I believe even the corpses could hear you," Cordelia sighed, and patted Robin's head once.

"Cordelia, that's so morbid," Sumia clasped her cheeks and shook her head. "Oh," she frowned, and took a handkerchief out. "Your necklace is a little dirty." She rubbed at it, but it was no use. The gem had a mark on it.

"Oh no," Robin begun to frantically rub at it, but Cordelia swatted her hand.

"Robin, that's not going to help things. Give it to me, and I'll clean it up for you," Cordelia said, and without waiting for Robin's response, she unclasped the necklace and carefully stowed it in her bag.

And just like that, it was off of her neck...she felt like she could breathe properly again. It was a horrible thought to have...perhaps she didn't deserve to be freed of that shackle after all.

"Where are you lost again, Robin?" Sumia waved in front of her face. "Go find Frederick, I'm sure he'll want to see you."

"Oh yes," Cordelia stifled a laugh at the young tactician's expense. "Run along now," and with that she and the pegasus knight pushed Robin forward. "You'll find him back at his tent, I'm certain."

They wondered if they got through to her...Robin stumbled forward in a light daze.

Robin walked into sounds of Frederick hissing, thanks to what she could tell was rudimentary self-care. She saw a few wads of cotton littered on the floor, completely soaked with blood. She tsked audibly. It was bad enough that he was being cheap in taking care of himself, but to this extent?

He heard her of course; his hearing was rather astounding, if inconvenient for her at times. He almost dropped the bottle of alcohol, a sign that showed that he really was out of sorts.

"Give me that," Robin said snippily, a no-nonsense tone that made Frederick muse about whether or not she'd picked it up from him. She'd snatched the bottle from him, and took a copious helping of the cotton next to him. "Sit down. I can't believe you're standing. Sit, I say." He looked at her warily, but once she had her hand on his arm, he'd sat down on command, after flinching a little. "Did I hurt you?" She asked. He snorted. If only that were the problem, she sighed to herself. Instead of voicing her complaint, she knelt down next to the man.

Robin treated the cut on his hand, and noticed it running up his arm. "Frederick, I need you to roll your sleeve up." Thankfully he'd already taken off his armor; she'd prefer not to command him what articles to strip off of him; this was awkward as it was. He hmphed, but did as she said. Unfortunately, the man was not anticipating just how tight his shirt was and flinched from the pain. "Careful, you dolt!"

"Tactician, I did as you said to," he countered, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah the one time you listen to me is to hurt yourself."

"I do not recall asking for your help," he said haughtily, and she resisted the urge of giving him a good dosage of the stinging sensation of rubbing alcohol. She could say the same for herself, but she clamped her lips shut, not wishing to goad him further.

"Just, take your shirt off."

"Pardon?"

"Ju-just, do it. You're going to die of an infection at this rate. You don't take vulneraries, and you're barely helping yourself this way. Look, just..." Robin tucked the cotton under her arm, hastily set down the bottle, and her hands were at his chest, unbuttoning his shirt as though she did it daily.

The man, needless to say, looked absolutely astonished. "Hey, you! The nerve, undressing a man like this, I can do it myself you know." He swatted her fingers away, and hurriedly unfastened his shirt before she could touch him anymore. She was studying his visage, still red, and wondering about what he was thinking. Robin was ashamed to admit it even to herself, yet she wondered if the reason the simple action flustered him so much was because he had other thoughts connected to them. Thanks to the events of that night, she'd begun to doubt all his intentions. He touched her chest, after all. That was condemning enough. "Avert your gaze, perverted woman."

She scoffed at that! Why she never-"Shut up you kisser," she snapped, and her brown eyes shot wide open at what she'd just said. "S-slip of the tongue," she tried to amend hurriedly, although context considered, perhaps it wasn't the correct idiom to use.

The man closed his eyes shut, and let out a labored sigh. "Robin..." Curses, why did he have to go say her name? She hated when he did that. It was mean of him, to address her so informally, as though they were friends.

"Before you say anything," she said, and pressed a finger to his lips. "Just let me fix you up."

"Mm-"

"Shut up," she said again, albeit without the added epithet. She'd dabbed his wounds inexpertly, but it was far better than leaving him to his own devices. His breath hitched every now and then, whether it was because of the tension between them, or the fault of the alcohol, she didn't know. When she lifted up his pant leg to inspect a previous injury, he jerked away.

"That's enough of playing doctor," he finally said, and took the bottle back from her. He sighed at the amount of supplies she'd used on him, and screwed the cap back on.

"But aren't we going to talk?"

"There is nothing to talk about," he said tersely. "Thank you for your assistance, as unwanted and forced as it was."

"Frederick! You can't just kiss me and not talk about it!" she protested, but it was futile.

The man gripped her under her arms, and set him outside his tent. "I absolutely can, and will." Her legs flailed and kicked, but she couldn't actually hit a man she'd just tended to. Just before Frederick turned around, she did something very immature. She reached out and touched his chest, poking his nipple and drawing out a wonderfully shocked expression.

"See how it feels!" she stomped her foot petulantly, and considered marching right back in, but rejected the temptation. To his credit, Frederick returned back inside. She would have given anything to be inside his mind right then.


	18. Tension

**Sorry for the delay! Please forgive me ahhh. Fair warning, some of the future chapters will have mature material, so it may take a while to make toned down versions for . You can always read them at my ao3, whitearrow, or on my tumblr, tacticiansquill. You can also check out my imagines blog imaginefeawakening ^_^**

**Thank you for your patience and continued support!**

* * *

She wouldn't think of the way his muscles tensed and stretched when he discarded his shirt. She was told not to look, after all. but of course the second Frederick had to look away she took in an eyeful of his body. Muscles taut, probably rock hard from years of training. She wanted to touch them. Robin had briefly fantasized just lying Frederick down next to her so she could trace his abs. And then maybe do some more things afterwards. Wait, didn't she say she wouldn't think of that? Then why was she?

"Oi," Gaius rapped the distracted tactician's head. "Get your head outta cloud nine, 's kinda important."

"Right," Robin nodded, and focused her attention at the mission on hand. She gulped as the band of assassins narrowed their eyes at her. It was tough, integrating amongst these types of folk. They'd scrutinized her endlessly, questioning Gaius's claim that she was there for the same cause. Gaius had infiltrated the band before she, and had already established some sort of relationship with them. Getting them to include her two was a little more challenging, especially considering her role as tactician and the fact that there was a traitor in their midst sitting in this very circle. She personally wanted to jump them all and find out who it is. Gaius of course had to talk her down, to make sure she didn't do anything reckless, and assured her that he'd love to beat down the traitor too, although with different intentions than she.

All things aside, she still wasn't feeling too great. Although she wasn't feverish, things were beginning to pile to be a bit too much. What with Emmeryn's assassination plot in the palace to all things after, the tension was growing thicker by the day. One would think that all focus would be on the war. But, humans will be humans, she'd reasoned. When she wasn't busy with her duties, she'd be dueling with relentless thoughts of everything else. Her friends...yes, she supposed she could call them that. Friends she didn't even know she had once were ready to defend her with all they had.

Some of the soldiers still regarded her strangely, but Lissa would always glare at them on her behalf. Lissa, Sumia, Stahl...that new farmer they'd recruited the other day that had been training with Chrom ever since...even the prickly Lon'qu...they all were her friends. Sure they'd poke fun at her (or in Lon'qu's case growl about her mere presence) but they loved her. Her best friend of course was Chrom. She wouldn't trade her time with him for anything.

There was just one big question mark left. Frederick. What was he-OUCH!

"Bubbles, you wanted to do this, I need you to keep your head in the game. Tactician duties overwhelming you? Or is it something else," he hissed in her ear with an accusatory tone as quietly as he could. That earned them a few more suspicious glances, but Gaius covered it with a quick peck against her ear.

"Lovebirds, keep it in the bedroom," a blonde woman said snidely. "We don't have all day. Something big's gonna happen soon. If they don't kill the prince, we do."

"Yeah," a bald man snorted. "Like that's goin' well. How did that last plan go, exactly?"

"Shut up. Didn't think that stupid girl woulda been the one to scarf them grapes down," the woman said scathingly. "Whole damn camp was kissing her ass. Can't blame 'em." The woman chewed on an apple and spat out bits of the peel into the campfire. "Prince Chrom's new shiny toy, who wouldn't be interested? The man probably goes through a dozen a month though, so I'm sure the shine will wear off soon. 'Course, we'll snuff him out soon enough."

Wait...did that mean that _she_ was the one to poison the grapes? That she was the one feeding all the information to this group? Robin glanced at Gaius out of the side of his eye, and could see that Gaius wore a blank expression. He squeezed her hand once...that was enough for her to know that he was thinking what she was. They got her...what they could do with this information, however, would be left to the ginger.

There was one issue though. Robin was close to lunging at the woman, who seemed to be the most evil one of the group. And the most competent. And the last sentence revealed that it was she who was the traitor. Well of course...to keep a charade this long...it would have to be someone brilliant. Brilliant but...a certain word Robin was furiously repeating inside her mind. She felt pressure on her hand again, likely from a Gaius who had a faint idea of what she wanted to do. She clucked her tongue and focused on the licks of fire before her. This was supposed to be a simple meeting...they could leave soon. And then she'd release her rage into a more positive outlet. Yes.

"That slut though...how many guys do you reckon has sucked her-"

"Hey, shouldn't we get back to the plan?" Gaius's jaw is set, and although it was a small slip in composure, it was monumental for someone like him. This time it was Robin's turn to squeeze his hand. He returned the pressure, and indicated that he wasn't about to blow his top. But the anger radiating from him wasn't very convincing.

"Eh, there ain't much to talk 'bout today. Gotta see what Mad King Gangrel's up to. No use dirtying our hands if the freak gets the job done 'fore we get there," another man said. "Time for shut-eye. 'Sides, looks like the lovebirds are ready to get frisky, eh?"

"We can keep our hands to ourselves," Gaius said smoothly. "So nothing? I told you all our movements for nothing then, huh..."

"Hey now, youse volunteered," the man continued. "We ain't gonna spill all the beans to ya."

"Then there's no point stickin' around to watch all of you get trashed. Come on." Gaius stood up with Robin in tow, and without any fanfare, left behind the band of assassins. She'd stopped asking if they should say bye or not. It was too polite, he said.

Considering the vulgarity she'd just been party to...she finally understood.

She'd had to cut dinner short, so the two of them decided to make a quick trip to the kitchen. Truth be told, she still had a strong aversion to the area thanks to the poisoning incident (courtesy of the blonde woman she'd be exacting her revenge on), but Gaius promised to try everything before letting Robin have a taste. It wasn't exactly reassuring, but he was hungry and claimed that he'd go hard, or go home.

They had been recapping whatever they'd learned. That the bandits were pretty lazy, but they would be figuring out someway or another to kill the prince, if the war didn't take him first. Gaius said that he wouldn't have even considered them a real threat, had they not already managed to poison Robin. It was just too simple to blend in, and Chrom was much too trusting. They were at a standstill; and it looked like they didn't take a liking to Robin either (who was posing as his girlfriend). He'd said that perhaps it would be better if he went alone for a while.

As much as she wanted to help him, she'd agreed that this was probably better. And loathe as she was to admit it, her tactician duties were catching up to her. Planning, bonding with the Shepherds, her pesky relationship issues...Her body was growing more and more weary by the day. She'd claimed to be a master at stress, but the weight was starting to be a heavy weight on her. And the guilt, oh the guilt. If it weren't those horrible nightmares, then it would be the guilt that would be keeping her up...or something of a more mature nature.

Cordelia had given her back the necklace after dinner, earlier that day. She cooed over how beautiful it was, and it was back around Robin's neck, tucked under her shirt before she'd left for her mission (yet something else that was robbing her of her sleep). It didn't help that the very people that she wanted to kill thought of her badly...in a way that she really didn't want to be thought of. Rumors shouldn't hurt her, but the way she was treating her best friend...it wasn't good.

Every time she walked she could feel it thud against her chest with every step. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve it. Why did she take it in the first place?

She clutched at her necklace, wondering if she should bring it up. "Hey, Gaius..." Robin said in between picking up an apple (helpfully taste tested be Gaius) and digesting it. What they had said, earlier at the campfire was bothering her. Crude words were used, but really, was she any better than that?

"Yeah?" He'd started to 'test' the sweets now. "Mm, no poison here." His stuffed mouth proved that much. When he'd earned Robin's eye-rolling, he swallowed and went back to what he knew was really plaguing her mind. "Don't pay attention to them."

"But I-I know you know Gaius." It was a vague statement, but she knew Gaius was sharp enough to know what she was saying. The ruffians hit a nerve, but could she blame them? She felt no better than a common tramp.

He took a deep breath and set down the bag of goodies on the makeshift counter. He put his hands on her shoulders (she winced, as she was only in her usual top and thus bared her shoulders; his sticky hands were not pleasant against her skin). "Listen, Robin. Whatever emotional crap you have going on with Blue and Tight Pants doesn't mean you're a bad person. You're confused. It's quite common at your age," he said sagely.

"And how old are you?" she narrowed his eyes. 'At your age.' As though he were the all-wise sage or something.

"Older than you. Not important. The point is that even though you need to sort your shit out, you can't beat yourself up over it...or get distracted when you need your head in the game."

Just then there was a rustling as Frederick entered the tent. His hair was tousled, and his clothes were wrinkled. She'd say that it looked like he couldn't sleep, but he was still in his dress pants and shirt, suspenders and all. Just what was he up to?

"Here's your chance," Gaius whispered in her ear and clapped her on the back. He winked at her and bowed out. He knew when to make his exit, and abandoned the poor tactician without so much as a goodbye.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. "Good for nothing..." She awkwardly fiddled with her apple core and avoided looking at the elephant in the room. She did poke his nipple, after all. He couldn't be too pleased about that. She wouldn't be either...well...that would depend on the situation. She dared a glance at him, and he was just standing there. Why was he there in the first place? Should she leave? She looked down at once was an apple and back at him.

He wasn't leaving either...what could she say? Hey, how's the weather, were you out collecting pebbles? Yes, that sounded good enough. The weather was always a safe topic.

So with that in mind, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked him directly in his eyes, equally as intense as hers.

"We need to talk."

Those words flowed out of her mouth...at the same time as they did from his.

Oh dear.


	19. Deal

**The next chapters won't be friendly...I need to do lots of heavy censoring aha...I may have to send you to whitearrow on ao3, for the uncut version. Thank you for reading! **

* * *

The two were locked in a steely glare. It was as though they were on opposite ends of a battlefield; weapons raised and ready to defend themselves in an instant. Needless to say, their tension was so palpable, one could only cut it with a weapon like Falchion.

It was a deadlock; who would speak first?

"I-"  
"We-"

They both opened their mouths in unison, and averted their gazes from the other with a scowl on each face. Perhaps they should try again. Frederick cleared his throat and gestured for her to go ahead.

"I-No, first I want to ask, why are you here?"

"Do I not have the liberty to go where I please? Or perhaps I should report to you about my every movement?" The bite was still strong in his words, but at present she had no energy for any bark. She sighed and situated herself atop of a crate, trying to best think how to go about this. She had gone over a thousand options for this situation...but now that she was here, she didn't know what to do. And here he was, already being overly defensive...as always.

"Frederick, please. Not now."

"I came to see what you were up to...of course you were traipsing around during ungodly hours with that thief again."

"He has a _name_," she grumbled, and crossed her arms. "What if _I_ started referring to _you_ as 'stick-up-his-ass'?"

He cracked a wry smile at this. "So you don't refer to me as that already? Should I consider myself lucky?" His joke lifted the atmosphere considerably and he was treated to her peals of laughter; gods, he hadn't been on the receiving end of something so wonderfully pleasant for what felt like ages. He'd long passed denying that there were certain feelings inside that he couldn't deny; he could only run from them and hope to forget.

Or that was the plan.

He saw them sneak out once again, and they'd seemed closer by the day. But he was baffled. Was she enamored with the prince, the thief, or him? "What are you up to?"

She blinked at him. "Well, it certainly isn't what you're thinking...Naga knows your imagination runs wild these days," Robin said nonchalantly and bounced her leg with her words. That...was not helping. That was not helping at all. He had to focus. What he had to focus on he truthfully didn't know, but he had to keep a calm mind regardless.

"Then what _are_ you doing every night?"

"...Recon," Robin shrugged and kept bouncing her legs, now at an even rhythm. "Just doing my part, you know."

"Your _part_," he emphasized, "is to be tactician, here at camp and on the battlefield. Not lurking in shadows and dealing with goodness knows what."

"Maybe you just really want to keep me to yourself. Locked away in your tent, and doing goodness knows what...shady business." Her gaze was away from him, but the way her fingers just happened to run up and down her thigh...she knew what she was doing to him. It felt like an invitation for him, wrapped up and waiting for him to open. His pants begun to form a tent around his crotch, and he had to casually turn around. Perhaps they should finish their business here quickly.

"Please," he struggled to steady his voice. "Do not project your fantasies on to me, milady."

"No? Then why oh why, did you kiss me? Why do you get so angry when I talk to any other male, men who treat me well, whereas all you do is cast suspicion on me day after day. I as much cannot use the latrine without you getting hot and bothered about where I am." Her words were...incredibly provocative. She was meek at first, but suddenly she's becoming her true self. Prepared for a fight, or to get whatever she wants. Gods damn him if he gives it to her...the satisfaction of messing him up. "Look at me, Frederick." Damn it she knew, she knew of his issue...He pulled out his shirt to cover his front and turned back to face her, and her infuriatingly smug smirk.

"Robin..." He had intonations of a warning, but the woman ignored him easily.

"And then you'll ignore me. But then you take many, many pains to disguise the fact that you're helping me. What is it that you want? What's on my chest? What's between my legs?" Her motions continued, and his eyes were shameless drawn to them. How they pulled, taut between her thighs as she graced her body on whatever fortunate crate of vegetables lay under her bottom. But she...she was absolutely vulgar, and Frederick had no patience. Not when he had a horribly jealous streak going on...he couldn't face her until then.

"Robin!" With three long strides he had her arms gripped in his hands, and pulled her off of her seat with such force, a pot with leftovers from dinner spilled over beside them.

He jerked her up in a manner that their lips had almost met; their bodies were pressed so that he knew that she could feel _that_ but he didn't care and neither did she, it appeared, although he'd finally managed to paint a blush on to her cheeks. Her eyebrows furrowed immediately, and he'd finally caught her off guard, for once. "You will not speak to me that way."

"Oh, as if _you've_ treated me with respect," she spat out, and stomped on his foot. He flinched, and only pressed her back to the canvas. "You're so damn mean, but you decide to be nice sometimes and it confuses me! It would confuse anyone! You make me tea, you take care of me, you almost fucking died to save my life, and you won't even let me help your leg! Never have I met anyone so obstinate as you!"

He laughed bitterly. "Have you perchance looked in a mirror? Perhaps I should procure one." He glared down at her, and especially at that thing around her neck, and a growl escaped from his throat before he could stop it.

"And you...you hate when I wear this and you...you...you kissed me! Why did you do that? You can't just kiss people and not tell them why! Stop being a coward!" She was goading him...she was goading him into saying something he would regret, but gods damn it all he would not be called a coward and take it lying down.

"Why? Did you want more? Are you sad it was over, all too soon? Milady, you're more lustful than I expected."

"You're not the first person to call me a whore you know," she said, and broke eye contact when tears welled up. He felt an incredibly painful stab of guilt; he'd not implied that at all and yet...yet she has been exposed to something he couldn't protect her from. He felt angry, angry that he couldn't. And so he directed that at her.

"I didn't say that at all, and you know it. You...you're not a loose woman. Even if you have violated me," he sniffed haughtily, and she snorted. He left the first incident...that time she dared to kiss his cheek. No woman had dared such a bold act and yet she had claimed him as her own. Ridiculous.

"Oh shut up, you kissed me and just dumped me outside. And you know what, maybe you are right. Maybe I do want you to kiss me and do unspeakable things, cause i can't stop thinking about you. When you took your shirt off I was looking, sorry."

This time he was agape. Goodness, he forgot just how direct this woman could be, if she set her mind to it. "Robin..."

"No, you listen to me. I wanted to touch you, and I still want to touch you, and I know you want the same cause there's a bar of iron stabbing my thigh right now. Just from jiggling my legs, might I add."

There was a weighty silence. Their chests heaved in unison, and they were both disheveled. Her hair was barely tied, and she looked so breathless he wanted to take her right then and there. Truthfully, he was being plagued by the same problem. He was consumed by thoughts of her. He wanted her to himself, he wanted her to smile for him, he wanted her to look for him and be worried about him. He wanted to kiss her...he wanted to kiss her... His mouth ghosted over hers, and slowly their breaths mixed together...their mouths were open, and their lips skirted over the other in a cruel taunt.

"You want me to kiss you?," he breathed as her tongue earnestly made its way to his mouth. "You want me to touch you?" His hands went to her bottom and elicited a squeak when he cupped it in his hands. "Very well...so long as you understand this..." He couldn't tell her just what he wanted her to know...she leaned up and yanked him by his hair...her tongue slid across his teeth and they moaned in what he could only call a beautiful chorus. The taste of her saliva was intoxicating, and he had to push her back to clarify just what was going to happen between them.

She pouted and tried to capture another kiss from him, but he used all his manpower to utter his next, heartbreaking set of words. "A man and woman in close proximity for so long, put into dangerous situations may...may have urges like this. That doesn't mean anything. This is just to relieve that, understood? Then it's-"

"Back to normal," she groaned impatiently and rubbed her crotch against his. "I get it." The part of him that was greedy could feel a tinge of sadness in her words. Sadness, anger, but most of all, impatience. He was denying her what they both wanted, what they both needed, to be frank.

"Will you forgive me in the morning?" He asked her, and clutched on to her hand as though it were a lifesaver. He felt he was soiling her, just by interlacing their fingers together. While his heart was still thrown into conflict, he was being allowed to do whatever he wished...this was never the outcome he had suspected would happen...but with a woman like her? Should he really have been surprised that she'd turned everything around on him? Never would he underestimate her charms again.

"That depends...if you'll ignore me all over again...I might just have to violate you again," she whispered with a cat-like look in her eyes. She bounded with him, and he tried to hush her; they would have to get back to his tent without being seen by a single soul. He used that as another excuse to hold her close to his side; because waiting to touch her until they were alone was too much a herculean task for him to achieve. It was too much to ask for...After being put through the wringer...he could have this much.

As for tomorrow...he'd think about that later. Right now...was going to be the most memorable night the knight had ever lived. He could afford to be self-indulgent for once. And he was no brute; he'd return every favor with an extra present...

He'd leave her sore and raw until she could speak no more.

Oh, how his mouth _watered_.

"Frederick, we need to take care of that iron rod."

"Will you quit calling it that?"

"But it's _massive_!"


	20. Say My Name (12)

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY! This is a two parter because it's very long. It also um might be taken down so if you would like to read it later, please go to Whitearrow on AO3 because...rating issues...ahem

* * *

"You know," Robin said once her knight (her knight for the night, that is) pinned her down on his bedroll. "Doesn't this go against some sort of code? Didn't knight training cover this?"

"_Cover_ what?" he emphasized when her hands started undoing his buttons in a frenzy.

"Not you," she murmured slyly, and he stole a kiss from her. Even in a circumstance like this, he found her adorable. As he was too loathe to admit that, he'd only kiss her as much as he'd wanted to in the name of lust. Loose morals was easier to face rather than feelings. "But you know…No sleeping with the tactician? Keeping your chastity and all?"

He flicked her on the forehead, and she furrowed her brows at him. "Consider yourself lucky, milady."

She mumbled something that sounded like mood killer, and yanked him down roughly for a sloppy kiss, giggling lightly when their teeth clacked together. "Well, you're getting more than your fair trade. I'd feel like I'm seducing away your chastity, yet my virginity is going to have your name stamped on it." He felt his spirits soar at that. It was silly, and yet he rather enjoyed being her first. He liked it a lot. An intimate experience that the two of them would share…

And then what?

Thoughts of the future were a bit blurred when a beautiful woman was nibbling along his neck and to his collarbones, back and forth in a zigzag-like pattern (Thoron, he'd say). "I wonder if I should…leave behind any presents," she laughs as she flits her tongue along a patch of skin that makes him grunt in a way she liked, rather than his usual grumpy sounds that sounded like he's in pain.

"Don't you dare, woman," he warned her and slightly jerked when she sank her teeth into his hot skin.

"That's for calling me woman," Robin chided him, and let her saliva relax the red marks on his skin. "Mm, how are you going to explain this one?" she asked just before she left another bite right below his ear. He flinched less that time, growing used to her sharp bites.

"I'll tell everyone an annoying pest had something to do with it," he said, as she discarded his shirt from his shoulders, with his help, and tilted her head to take in the sight.

"Wow," Robin murmured, highly impressed. "Much better than the last time I caught a peek. Tell me, have you been working out?" She smirked at him and he kissed her neck. He unexpectedly hit a sweet spot, and he could feel his erection grow when she let out a breathy moan in response.

"Only for you, milady," he sighed against the soft supple skin of her neck and playfully dragged his teeth down to her collarbones. "A peeping tom like you only deserves the best."

"And it's the best indeed," she grinned as she slid her hands up from his abs and upwards, tweaking his nipples between her slender fingers. "You know, I regretted not poking the other one," she murmured and rubbed his brown nubs to her heart's content.

He grunted a little under the stimulation and closed his eyes. She took that to be a good sign, and sought to further increase his pleasure. "Just as…" he suddenly said, "you allow me to do the same to you."

A warmth pooled between her legs at the thought of that. Him toying with her breasts as she'd squirm underneath him, trying to make him sing like a nightingale. It would almost be like their usual game of domination except better, much better. "I think that's a deal that I can manage," she murmured, and lay a few more kisses against his breast, grasping it while she did so. When her tongue flit the nub on his chest, Frederick decided that now he would be having his way with her.

His hands veered sharply to her chest and he palmed her breasts. Even through her shirt, he could feel her nipples reacting to his touch, and it was then he noticed how quiet she'd suddenly become. He worried if he'd overstepped his boundaries as he took in her flushed expression. Her brown eyes were wide and trembling with emotions he'd never seen before. Her teeth worried her lip as she gazed up at him with an almost reverent gaze, yet her look was permeated with curiosity. Her cheeks were flushed with arousal and what he was sure was shyness. As playful as she was, this was also her first time; surely her nerves were also a bit rattled.

Was he stealing away something precious? Did he have the right to? His hands stilled and immediately her lips turned downwards.

"Did I tell you to stop?" she asked him with a hint of irritation. "Or do you make empty promises?" Though there was a false sense of bravado in Robin's voice, he could still detect it being a little shaky.

"Are you okay?" he pressed her and her eyes softened. "You seem…hesitant."

"I'm just a little…well it's my first time. While I certainly have no intention of stopping you or your iron rod (he groaned at the epithet), forgive me if I feel a little shy. I'm not…accustomed to exposing myself to anyone, let alone a man like you."

"A man like me?" he quipped, as his lips sought to conquers her once more. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she said in between kisses, "You've probably got a lot of expectations. You only want the best, after all." They traded kisses as though they just couldn't get enough. Frederick memorized each little crevice in her lip, and his pride grew the more swollen and red it grew. His tongue flew into her mouth and traced her teeth with relish. He was one to multitask, and his hands brazenly traversed her body, slow enough lest she decided to make any objections.

Her eyes fluttered shut as his fingers slid up her shirt and over her breasts, only covered by an old, torn up brassiere. He marveled at just how smooth her cleavage was, and a painful pang coursed through his manhood as he ached to see her uncovered and bare. Just as he was delving under her cup to touch her directly, she shook her head.

"Do it properly. Un-undress me first," she said, dipping her head down to avoid looking at him. Her cheeks were painted with a rosy blush, and he couldn't help but want to kiss her cheek. It almost felt like he was deflowering his bride for the very first time. How he wished that were true. Perhaps he could pretend it was so, if only for that moment. He kissed her other cheek, and she turned to look at him coyly just before he pulled off her shirt.

He took a moment to just stare at her, before he would render her completely topless. He stroked her stomach and circled her navel and wandered to her hips. She closed her eyes and sighed happily, and flinched when he touched her bra. "It's kinda old…" she apologized, and Frederick had to bite back laughter.

"It still looks just as exquisite on you, even if it were the finest lingerie in the land," he reassured her. He thought it would be best not to tease her about such things; as rude as he could be to the young woman, he knew that right then she was at her most vulnerable. Whatever agreement they had made surely couldn't last…not when two such as them were displaying such trust to the other.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Robin said, even as she blushed furiously. She leaned up to kiss him again, and her knee pressed up against the bulge in his pants and started to rub it. He groaned into her mouth, and his fingers became frenetic in it's search to undo her brassier. He pulled at her clasp with such force, she murmured a warning to not rip it.

"I'll buy you a new one," he whispered back, and finally, finally stripped the last bit of fabric from her upper half. Just as he slid the straps down her shoulders and revealed her milky breasts, she brought up her hands to cover her chest. "W-wait," she said, wracked with a sudden wave of self-consciousness. "I—Um…"

"Take all the time you need," he said, and kissed her shoulder. It was a little sad, he thought, that the kindest he's ever been is during their lovemaking—that's what this was. Perhaps their initial heat could be taken as pure, raw, fucking, but this…no this was an exchange of emotions as they buzzed and swirled in a frenzy of an unknown territory, a new territory that came with exploring each other's bodies and seeking to increase the sexual pleasure of the other. He pressed butterfly kisses up across her bare shoulders, nipping every few inches until he reached her jawline. His hands covered hers, and the more she rubbed his crotch, the further down their hands moved.

Yet again his mouth was glued to hers, as though seeking a source of air only she could provide him. He could feel her aroused peaks pressing against his chest, and it felt like he was about to burst out of his pants. Instead of first groping her like a heathen, he instead unfastened his pants to allow his erection some peace.

"Touch me, Frederick," Robin asked gently, as though telling him to pass her the salt at dinner. "You can look at me now," she smiled, and he smiled back at her, just as fondly. He moved a strand of sticky hair out of her face even though it would be displaced back into its messy state not a moment later.

His eyes slowly looked down at her chest, and his "iron rod" reacted appropriately. He felt like he couldn't get any stiffer, and a lustful moan forced its way out of his mouth. He gently took each breast in his hand and stroked over her nipples, turgid and solid under his skin. She moaned, much louder than he has so far and looked embarrassed to do so.

"Wh-why am I louder?" she complained even as he drew mewls and whines out of the woman. Her back arched into his hands, and then against his lips when he traded one of his hands for his mouth. His left hand pinched and flicked her left teat, and his mouth suckled at the other one. His tongue swirled around and around, pushing the nub with more force than she'd treated him, and Robin's hips were writhing. He used his free hand to pull down her trousers, and she rushed him. She yanked off her pants, but saved him the honor of stripping away her knickers.

"Don't worry Robin, I'll match your volume yet," he said, and let a trail of saliva trickle down from her breast. She smirked at his response and lifted up her bottom so he could slide off her underwear. But her mouth formed a little "oh" when he literally tore away her underwear from her.

"_Frederick!_" she scowled at him and swatted at his head. "Supplies are scarce, you know!"

"I'll get you a new pair," he promised. "Consider it a present. Now then," he said businesslike and kissed down to her apex. "Spread your legs for me….and say my name." His voice grew husky all of a sudden, and when he looked up at her she could see the change in his pupils. No longer was he just Frederick the annoying knight…he was simply Frederick, the man who would take her tonight and possibly leave their lungs bereft of any air at the end of it all.

"Frederick?"

"Mm…" he closed his eyes and remembered the first time he heard her say her name. Now here she was, breathless and moaning, calling for him and no one else. She would plead with no one else but him, and may Naga help him, but he wanted to be the last man she'd ever ache for like this…be the only man to see her like this. Face shaped into an expression of pure desire, breasts covered in lovebites, and her legs spread wide open and slick with sweat and fluid. "Your sex is beautiful…as is the rest of you, but I'm sure I need not tell you that…"

"It would be nice to hear it more often," she said petulantly. "Instead of hey you, woman, blah blah blah—_ah_…." Her sentence distorted into a high pitched sigh and he smirked with pleasure as he stroked her folds.

"So warm…won't you say my name?" he asked her. He positioned his lips in front of hers, and his tongue quavered, yet not touching her walls at all.

"Frederick…Frederick please…"

"With pleasure, milady."


	21. Say My Name 22

IM SORRY AGAIN

if it gets taken down u can go to whitearrow at ao3, or my writing blog tacticiansquill tumblr yup yup 3

* * *

Well, that did not turn out to be like he thought it would, Frederick mused as he traced circles around Robin's navel. The tips of his fingers flit across her stomach, and lingered over the light musculature that was beginning to form. Ah, so all his training had kicked into use. He feared that so much time with the candy lover might have put her out of shape. He could still traces of the time she was poisoned, with the way her skin clung to her ribs. How so many things had changed in such a short time…and how some things he didn't.

He never thought in all his life that the one place he would have lost stamina was in bed. Frederick was doing his best to not contemplate his failure, but him being so finicky about every task, how could he not? He sank his face into her abdomen out of mortification, and Robin grumbled something in her sleep. He thanked Naga that she was such a saint about it, and assured her to not worry, that these things happen.

He was too spent from his orgasm and couldn't even use his mouth to pleasure her. Not once did she cry out his name in pure ecstasy…He was desperate to go inside of her, and he'd mounted her to begin their coupling. He had gone in once, twice, three times, but not even all the way through. She was moist and clenching around him and he was going wild. There was not an ounce of rational thought within the man. All he could think about was how warm she was and how beautiful she looked under him, her skin against his, her breasts heaving and her legs wrapped over his shoulders.

He'd thought they would finally unite when the urge to come over powered him and he had to retreat. His lungs only knew her name, and it would be no short of a miracle if no one recognized his voice nor her words. By the time he mustered the energy to try once more, the young woman had fallen asleep from exhaustion. He'd sufficed to simply gaze at her in her wondrous form, thinking about everything at once until he fell asleep, just like he was doing that morning.

What good was all his training for, if he couldn't even pleasure the woman he cared for? Well he trained for battle not…for sexual activities. He wondered if he should have done that too. He didn't think that he'd be so overcome with his greed for her that at the crucial moment, he lost it all. But more importantly…he realized that this was what he wanted.

Not losing control of himself at the wrong moment, no, but to be able to wake up next to her like this. Every morning. He didn't want it to end.

His fingers danced across her cheek and she wrinkled her nose and smacked her lips. Though she stirred, she did not wake just yet. "I like you," he whispered softly, and gently kissed her forehead. When he pulled back he could see her smiling up at him, if her smile had a tinge of sadness.

"Morning," Robin said sleepily, though her eyes lost their sleepiness when he kissed her. A wanton sigh passed from through his lips to hers and several minutes were lost to this. "Mm, this is a nicer way to wake up than your screaming." Of course she'd slip in a quip the second he let her go. He rolled his eyes, but instead of returning with a retort, he rest his forehead against hers.

His heart hurt with a pang; it was a surprisingly intimate gesture, even as they lay bare against the other, this was something that went far between an agreement.

But such an agreement…was it ever meant for people like them?

"I—I want to say something." Frederick mustered up all his courage for…he didn't even know what to say. It wasn't like him to be so reckless, but…

"Is it about last night? Don't worry Frederick," she said, a little pink. "It happens."

"Well, it's not—It's…Gods, this is troublesome." He should just forget it and not bother. No, what was he thinking? A soldier never retreated. Even if it was from a troublesome tactician with some questionable…things. However that went, they would have to discuss some things over, one way or another.

"I…I wish to spend more time with you, Robin. I care for you. There. I said it," he added with a Robin-esque pout. Gods, but she was having such a heavy influence on him. He found that he didn't mind. He was more open now, less stifled in his ways and the weight constantly on his chest would lighten whenever she was around…as much as she would also cause about at least half of his problems.

She blinked up at him in shock several times. She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it once more. "Look if this is about last night, we can just finish now and—"

"Robin…"

"N-no it's okay, you don't have to force yourself…just be honest," she said, her voice rose higher in pitch and faster in tempo.

Was he making her uncomfortable with this information? Regardless of how pettily he treated her, he knew that she simply wouldn't sleep with him for no reason. The tension grew between them until they could barely stay two inches apart. Just one coupling it…it's not enough to quell something so strong. "I was being honest," he said quietly. "I enjoyed this," he gestured at them. "Waking up like this."

"Naked?" Robin asked, and he gave her a look. Though as soon as she had the word out, the sarcasm was gone and she was feeling very self aware. She suddenly pulled up her blanket over her chest and was adorably red.

"And you bother being modest now?" Frederick teased her lightly, and pulled her blanket back down to kiss her chest, eliciting a squeal from the white-haired woman.

"Frederick!" They fooled around for a minute or so, until it fell into silence. Robin bit her lip, and he could see she was deep in thought. "I…I want this too. But…" She put her hand under his chin, and stroked his bottom lip with her thumb, "I want this to work. No more misunderstandings or running in circles or—"

"Keeping secrets?" He gave her a meaningful look and she grinned sheepishly.

"Don't you trust me?" She asked, with a tone full of accusation, and this time it was his turn to be shameful.

"I—I want to."

Robin sighed and sat up, drawing the blanket over her chest as she did so. "That's not an answer, Frederick."

"I know." He rest his forehead against her bare shoulder and exhaled deeply. "I know…But…won't you tell me just what you're up to every night with…" He bit the words 'that thief' on his tongue before letting it slip. It would be rude…as is the product of jealousy. "Gaius."

He drew circles into her barely covered thigh, and she hummed at his feather-light touch. Frederick did this, venturing further and further until she gave her answer. "I promise I'll tell you…soon…" He frowned at her. "Soon!" She jabbed him in the chest. "Soon, soon, soo—mm!"

Frederick pounced on Robin with a kiss, sending her lying down and looking up at him once more. He bit her lip and tugged it roughly, leading her to dig her fingers into his back. His tongue slid into her hot mouth, and just as she reciprocated, he pulled back. "Soon," he mimicked her, and her jaw dropped open.

"You tease!" She drew up her knee to nudge him in the chest, less gently than she thought. While he didn't make a sound, his eye twitched enough for her to notice. But he was quick with his rebuttal.

"I'm the tease? Why not tell me now?"

"Because it'll mess everything up. You need to _not_ know. Even Gaius is regretting letting me know," she pouted. "We'll tell you when we take care of it! Now stop pestering me and calling me mean things."

"And no more rudely pinning you against places anymore?" Frederick added. While his tone was half apologetic, the other half held a deeper meaning that darkened the woman's eyes with desire.

"Well…it depends on the situation," she purred. "I wouldn't mind you pinning me down again and finishing what you started…properly this time."

His pride rankled. "I thought you weren't going to bring it up!" He went to flick her in the forehead, but she giggled and dodged his attack

"Okay, okay I'm sorry! Just that once. I promise."

He narrowed her eyes at her, and his fingers trailed over sides to under her arms. Just as she realized what was going to happen, it was too late. He began his attack, and she was screaming and writhing, giggling her head off.

"Sorry!" She squealed, as he tickled her relentlessly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She managed a few more apologies in between snorts and hiccups and her resistance grew weaker and weaker. "I surr-*hic*-ender! Please!" At last his hands stilled, and he moved his hands to her waist, and pressed his lips to her ear. He sucked on her earlobe, turning it red from a few gentle bites, and his tongue flit along her cartilage.

"I'll forgive you," he whispered huskily, "under one condition."

"What?" Robin tilted her head to the side and he gently rubbed her cheek.

"I'd like it if you…called me by name more. My actual name, not your amusing nicknames."

"So you admit they're funny?" A sly smirk.

"Mm, I know my sarcasm is not lost on you, my lady." He breathed his words and they became tangled into even more kisses…he swore both of their lips would be utterly swollen by the time they parted for the day.

They were getting better at kissing, he noted wryly as they separated to breathe, with their saliva obscenely connected together. Things were moving faster than he'd ever thought.

"Who knew so much would change in one night?" She voiced the thoughts dancing in his head. Really, he was serendipitous. It was a risky venture and yet…and yet for once they aren't angry at each other. He's not running away like a craven, and she's actually smiling at him, not annoyed with him one bit. Her teasing is innocent and sultry, and they're finally _together. _His heart that was beating in fear, now trembled with joy. Truly he never thought a wretched man like him could experience something like this. Especially not from someone who'd caused him so many tribulations.

"I suppose one understanding leads to another…even if the first one didn't come to fruition." But the smoldering look he gave her suggested that he would be more than happy to finish what he started. She hooked her legs around his waist easily, and just as he was gaining the surge of heat towards his length that only she could cause….

Outside their tent pile of dishes could be heard breaking, with a very disheartened Sumia crying over them.

The knight and the tactician shared a look and sighed.

"I guess that's our cue to leave," he sighed ruefully, and stole one last kiss before extricating himself from her. Easier said than done because neither she wanted to let go, nor did he want to part. "Get ready quick, so you can get out without anyone seeing you."

And he knew it then, that he loved her. But he had summoned enough courage for one day. He would have to see how things played out, and where they would go. But in his heart he knew, that he never wanted her gone. They had a lot to overcome, but it would happen.

He would make sure of it.

Unfortunately, things weren't going to go as smooth as he'd dared hope for.


End file.
